FMLA is one of the most abused federally required employer mandates of all time.  It’s not surprising to see Marco Rubio team up with Hillary Clinton to advance yet another progressive mandate….

WASHINGTON DC – Sen. Marco Rubio on Friday called for expanding the 1993 Family & Medical Leave Act – a central part of President Bill Clinton’s initial agenda upon taking office – to allow more American parents to spend more time with their families in need.
Speaking at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C., Rubio said he wants to shore up the 23-year-old law because it has grown ‘insufficient’ for modern times.
Rubio reminded the audience that his parents were both born to poor families in Cuba, and only came to America after their marriage in 1956. (more…)

CNN / WMUR have produced yet another New Hampshire primary poll (again, full pdf below).  CNN Media apparently desperate to find some glimmer of hope, something, anything, to support the Vulgarian Trump being eliminated.
Alas, the gnashing of teeth commences, no such luck.  “Top Tears”  Donald Trump has gained 15 points since July; Carly Fiorina gained 11 pts, John Kasich gained 5, and both Marco Rubio and Ben Carson gained 3 ( <– whadda surge).

Jeb Bush leads the Biggest Losers with 9 points lost, followed by Rand Paul who is winning in reverse dropping 6.  Methinks that costly check to Kentucky for the super-special Rand Paul only primary may have been for naught.  I digress. (more…)

UPDATE:  Full Poll pdf Results released earlier today (below) Graphic Updated
FLORIDA – Marco Rubio has overtaken Jeb Bush among Florida Republicans, as he benefits from positive reviews of his performance in the most recent presidential debate.
A Florida Atlantic University poll to be released Wednesday shows Rubio, the state’s junior senator, is in second place in the Republican primary field in Florida. His political mentor, former Gov. Jeb Bush, is in third place.

[…]  That confirms Florida’s status as the most important swing state in the presidential election — it could go either way and it awards more than 10 percent of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency. (more…)

Here’s video of candidate Donald Trump appearing on NBC Meet The Press (Chuck Todd), and CNN’s State of the Union (Jake Tapper) from this morning. The second interview is the most pertinent to the ongoing Rovian maneuverings.
It should be noted that both CNN and NBC released “post debate” polls today. You’ll notice Chuck Todd, despite an NBC poll result, didn’t use it.
The ideological “tells” are often inherent within what is not presented.
First the Chuck Todd interview:

The second interview (Jake Tapper) is more pertinent. (more…)

For two weeks we have been tracking closely the discussion, behavior, trends and analysis in several groups: the CNN team, the Salem Media team, the professional apparatus of the RNC, and the individual GOPe candidates.  An overall theme is well established to aid in predicting what will follow – more on that later.
In the interim, here’s Jake Tapper explaining, well, actually I would assert “pre-justifying”, the approach to pit the candidates against each other.   [*NOTE* Jake first made this accidental assertion of his intent at 3:05pm on September 11th]
Today Tapper discusses the goal to “pit the candidates against each other” against the backdrop of a discussion with CNN President Jeff Zucker, who apparently gave him the green light: (more…)

With 20 percent of Republican voters, Donald Trump is the clear leader in the crowded Republican presidential primary field, but he trails any of three leading Democratic contenders by wide margins in general election matchups, according to a Quinnipiac University National poll released today. (more)

This national poll data, in combination with the Florida poll data released yesterday, reflects a devastating reality for the GOPe professional political class and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the GOPe financiers.

While there is still a long way to go, the strategic plans of the white wine spritzer and crust-less sandwich crowd are being compromised by Donald Trump and his coalition of supporters who are rebuking traditional candidates.

(more…)

The desperation of the New York Times is ridiculous.  The Washington Free Beacon has essentially busted the New York Times for using Hillary Clinton opposition research to frame a ridiculous story about Marco Rubio getting four driving tickets in the past two decades.
The Times attempts to bolster the source of their information by denying the allegations of source origination to Politico Magazine.  However, the denial of the New York Times is provably false.
All of this NYT effort to highlight what exactly?  That Marco Rubio has had, and paid, traffic tickets.  Seriously?
Meanwhile Candidate Clinton has admitted she doesn’t drive and has been driven around by chauffers’ for so long she doesn’t even know if she could drive.

“The last time I actually drove a car myself was 1996,” the 66-year-old Clinton told the audience. “And I remember it very well, and so does the Secret Service, which is why I haven’t driven since then.”  (link)

There’s an opportunity for a campaign commercial here that could very well highlight Rubio’s advantage and optimistic views, while simultaneously spotlighting the old and out of touch limo-liberalism reflected by Hillary Clinton.

Marco Rubio is the strategic plow for a Jeb Bush GOP primary win.  The Decepticon machine in general, and Tom Donohue specifically, is using the EXACT SAME strategy successfully used in Virginia against Ken Cuccinelli to give the VA Governor’s race to Democrats. 
In Kentucky it was used to push McConnell back into office.  In Mississippi it was used to push Thad Cochran back into office (despite his dementia).   In 2015/16 primary it is being used to push Jeb Bush to victory in the GOP primary.  Alas, just like 2012 through 2014, few can see it and even fewer accept it.

(Via Hot Air) As the 2016 presidential cycle looms larger in the minds of political reporters, the “invisible primary” is becoming less and less opaque.
The hawkish casino magnate, notable establishmentarian, and prolific GOP donor Sheldon Adelson is reportedly beginning to turn a favorable eye toward Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL). According to Politico, Adelson sees Rubio as “the future of the Republican Party.”
“He has also said that Rubio’s Cuban heritage and youth would give the party a strong opportunity to expand its brand and win the White House,” Politico reported. (more…)

There has been some professional parseltongue from the Rubio camp in response to their candidate being caught on camera pledging to retain Obama’s executive amnesty (DACA) if he were President.  They’ve even argued a “lost in translation” approach, and should be embarrassed.
However, this should clear it up for those who are following Rubio’s proposals, and calling him the “pragmatic” candidate.

(Via Breitbart) The chief spokesman for the presidential campaign of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said in an on-record interview with Breitbart News that the senator, if elected president, would not require a secured border before he gives legislative and permanent amnesty to recipients of President Barack Obama’s first executive amnesty, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

“No,” Alex Conant said when asked if the border would need to be secured before a President Rubio’s legislative amnesty for recipients of Obama’s 2012 DACA would replace that executive amnesty.

Rubio intends to, if elected to the White House—as he laid out in a Spanish-language interview with Univision’s Jorge Ramos this weekend and was subsequently confirmed by Conant—eventually undo DACA. But he would not do so until there is a legislative replacement that provides the legal status—or amnesty—to DACA recipients on a permanent basis.  (read more)

For what it’s worth no candidate is proposing a solution to the problem, they each are trying to find a way to navigate through the minefield of being called “heartless” etc. (more…)

Until substantive and factual information reveals something divergent I’m sticking to my initial researched opinion that Marco Rubio’s campaign bid is purely a decepticon maneuver to plow through the field, and aid his mentor Jeb Bush.
(Via Allan Wall) Republican candidate Marco Rubio, in a chat with Jorge Ramos, in Spanish, made it clear that, on this issue, any differences between a President Rubio and President Obama would be insubstantial.
Matthew Boyle of Breitbart (a valuable source on immigration issues) has written up a report on the interview:

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), a 2016 GOP presidential candidate, said he believes that President Barack Obama’s first executive amnesty for so-called DREAMers—the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)—is “important” and he won’t reverse it himself if elected president. He delivered these remarks in a Spanish-language interview he gave to Univision’s Jorge Ramos.

So here is Rubio, speaking in Spanish to Jorge Ramos, a principal proponent of the Hispanicization of the U.S., telling him this. (more…)