Nebraska attorney David Begley must be nearing the end of his series of reports on appearances of the presidential candidates in Iowa for us. Yesterday Dave attended the appearance of Hillary Clinton in Omaha. Dave’s report is below:
We should know soon whether the FBI will refer Mrs. Clinton’s mishandling of State secrets for criminal prosecution, but Omaha billionaire Warren Buffett can’t wait. He has enthusiastically endorsed Hillary Clinton for President.
Here’s the main thing I want Power Line readers to understand about Hillary Clinton. Do not underestimate her. She is a formidable candidate. This is not Creighton versus IUPUI. She has plenty of money, tech support, and staff, along with a slick message. She is waiting for Trump and wants to run against him because she knows Trump can’t beat her.
Hillary discussed many of the the same things she raised in Council Bluffs, Sioux City, and Clear Lake. The theme in Omaha was that Hillary is smart. Hillary has good judgment. Hillary is love. Hillary loves her granddaughter and yours too. I thought she got slightly emotional in discussing her “working on behalf of kids” but I was in the back of the room and upstairs so I may be wrong here. Hillary’s family had a tough life and she worked her way to the top but she did not discuss her family’s regular receipt of six-figure speaking fees.
Republicans wreck the economy. When Bill Clinton and Barack Obama took over, the economy was in shambles. (But she said she is not their third term.) The economy does poorly under Republican Presidents. The middle class has been crushed in the recent past. Hillary has a strategy – not slogans – to get us out of the ditch. She will be running against “trickle down” economics and George W. Bush. There will be tinkering with the tax code. She will deny drug companies the ability to “write off” advertising. She doesn’t like their TV ads. There will be a tax credit for caregivers of sick relatives and more.
She will fight hard for the Buffett rule and see that millionaires pay at least 30 percent of their income in federal taxes. Warrren Buffett cited a statistic that the top 400 income earners paid an effective tax rate of 16 percent in 2012 and that it had declined over the past 20 years. No three-page tax code. As Carly Fiorina’s dad Judge Joseph Sneed told her, the tax code is how the government asserts control. And I will add it is also how politicians get votes and campaign contributions.
Hillary claims she will be conducting a fact-based campaign. The GOP candidates run “fact free” campaigns. She asserted that Iowa gets one-third of its energy from renewables, mostly wind. Warren Buffett’s Mid-American Energy company gets power from wind and coal, but she will move us away from fossil fuels. Buffett’s Burlington Northern Railroad and Omaha’s UPRR have both been badly hurt by fewer coal car loadings but that will only continue. The Paris “deal” was a good thing as combating climate change creates jobs. Good paying jobs, but not jobs in coal, oil and gas. No evidence was given regarding the cost of her proposal for solar panels on every house by the end of her second term. Also no discussion about the results and costs of Green power in Europe. The facts and science, you see, all back up Hillary.
When she talked about gun safety and closing gun “loopholes” the crowd exploded. “Anyone who is too dangerous to fly is too dangerous to buy a gun.” She made this statement right after her discussion of all the rights she would protect. She vows to defend Planned Parenthood and end mass incarceration.
On foreign policy she asserted that it was “shameful” to attack Islam because we need Muslim nations to fight ISIS. One doesn’t insult those you need in a coalition and Hillary is a coalition builder. She built the Iran coalition that imposed sanctions that are now lifted. And it is now ISIS and not ISIL as she placed a bit of terminological distance between herself and Obama. Secretary Clinton claimed a great victory over Iran with the nuke “deal” and we now are assured that Iran will not get nukes for a least 15 years. This statement was made weeks after two missile tests made by Iran contrary to UN resolutions.
One Nebraska superdelegate praised Hillary’s judgment on foreign affairs. Chaos in Libya was not cited as evidence. One claimed the GOP was lying about her and that none of the GOP candidates could withstand questioning for 11 hours as Madam Hillary did.
I am confident that she will not be indicted. If elected, she will wield great power. Congress may check or moderate it but the American people will be at her mercy.
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