May.13
Political News, Now.
Verbatim: Marco Rubio, Raúl Castro and the Church
“That’s going to be a pretty long confessional.”
— Senator Marco Rubio at the Council of Foreign Relations, responding to the news that President Raúl Castro of Cuba was considering returning to the Roman Catholic Church because of the influence of Pope Francis.
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Jeb Bush Declares His Candidacy — Prematurely
RENO, Nev. – Whoops!
Jeb Bush on Wednesday accidentally declared that he was running for president in 2016 during a question-and-answer session with reporters after a town-hall-style meeting here.
“I am running for president in 2016,” he said at one point, in response to a question from a reporter from The Washington Post. “And the focus is going to be about how – if I run – you create high, sustained economic growth where more people have a chance at economic success.”
By all accounts, it was an unintended omission of the word “if,” an obligatory qualifier for Mr. Bush, who has not yet officially joined the 2016 race. But the mistake revealed what many regard as the charade of all-but-announced candidates like Mr. Bush (and Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin and Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey) who have set up political action committees, fund raise heavily and travel the country campaigning – and yet refuse to call themselves outright candidates for the presidency.
Mr. Bush is expected to officially drop the “if” later this spring.
College Student to Jeb Bush: ‘Your Brother Created ISIS’
RENO, Nev. — “Your brother created ISIS,” the young woman told Jeb Bush. And with that, Ivy Ziedrich, a 19-year-old college student, created the kind of confrontational moment here on Wednesday morning that presidential candidates dread.
Mr. Bush, the former governor of Florida, had just concluded a town-hall-style meeting when Ms. Ziedrich demanded to be heard. “Governor Bush,” she shouted as audience members asked him for his autograph. “Would you take a student question?”
Mr. Bush whirled around and looked at Ms. Ziedrich, who identified herself as a political science major and a college Democrat at the University of Nevada.
She had heard Mr. Bush argue, a few moments before, that America’s retreat from the Middle East under President Obama had contributed to the growing power of the Islamic State. She told the former governor that he was wrong, and made the case that blame lay with the decision by the administration of his brother George W. Bush to disband the Iraqi Army.
“It was when 30,000 individuals who were part of the Iraqi military were forced out — they had no employment, they had no income, and they were left with access to all of the same arms and weapons,” Ms. Ziedrich said.
She added: “Your brother created ISIS.”
Mr. Bush interjected. “All right. Is that a question?”
Ms. Ziedrich was not finished. “You don’t need to be pedantic to me, sir.”
“Pedantic? Wow,” Mr. Bush replied.
Then Ms. Ziedrich asked: “Why are you saying that ISIS was created by us not having a presence in the Middle East when it’s pointless wars where we send young American men to die for the idea of American exceptionalism? Why are you spouting nationalist rhetoric to get us involved in more wars?”
Mr. Bush replied: “We respectfully disagree. We have a disagreement. When we left Iraq, security had been arranged, Al Qaeda had been taken out. There was a fragile system that could have been brought up to eliminate the sectarian violence.”
He added: “And we had an agreement that the president could have signed that would have kept 10,000 troops, less than we have in Korea, could have created the stability that would have allowed for Iraq to progress. The result was the opposite occurred. Immediately, that void was filled.”
He concluded: “Look, you can rewrite history all you want. But the simple fact is that we are in a much more unstable place because American pulled back.”
Mr. Bush turned away. The conversation was over.
Senator Thomas Carper Got Off Train Minutes Before Crash
Senator Thomas R. Carper takes the train home to Delaware nearly every day, looking forward to a good night’s rest in his own bed before returning to Washington in the morning. So he was home watching the news on Tuesday night when he heard that an Amtrak train had derailed about 30 minutes after he gotten off in Wilmington.
In a video released by his office, he described how his thoughts went first to the well being of all of the friends, passengers and employees he rides with so often.
“As accidents go, this was a bad one,” said Mr. Carper, a Democrat who is a former Amtrak board member.
“Ironically,” he said, the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday was set to consider funding for Amtrak, among other budget issues. (The committee rejected an amendment to increase funding for Amtrak.)
“This is, I think, a grim reminder that it’s important for us to invest in our transportation modes in this country — in roads, highways, bridges, transit but also intercity passenger rail — to not only make sure we can move people and goods in a timely and safe way, but especially in a safe way,” Mr. Carper said. “We can’t lose sight of that.”
Like many people, Mr. Carper also had to figure out how to get back to Washington on Wednesday morning, in light of Amtrak’s suspended service; he said he took a minivan and inched along I-95 in rush-hour traffic.
President Meant No Offense in Calling Elizabeth Warren by Her First Name, White House Says
The White House said Wednesday that President Obama had meant no offense in calling Senator Elizabeth Warren by her first name in an interview, adding that if anyone was owed an apology, it was him.
Senator Sherrod Brown, Democrat of Ohio, said Tuesday that Mr. Obama had been “disrespectful” to Ms. Warren when he called her Elizabeth in an interview with Yahoo News over the weekend in which Mr. Obama said Ms. Warren was wrong to oppose his proposed Pacific trade deal.
Mr. Brown, who also opposes the trade accord, suggested that Mr. Obama had been overly personal and even sexist in his criticism of Ms. Warren.
“Senator Brown is a stand-up guy,” Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said Wednesday in his daily briefing, “and given the opportunity to review the comments, that seem like they were made in some haste, I feel confident he’ll do the right thing and apologize.”
Mr. Earnest said such an apology would probably not have to be made publicly, but he made clear that it would be appreciated.
“We’ll see how Senator Brown decides to pursue this,” he said.
Mr. Earnest also noted that Mr. Obama regularly refers to senators of both sexes by their first names, including Mr. Brown several times.
Perhaps realizing that he was taking the discussion beyond the issue of trade, Mr. Brown tried to change the subject Tuesday when pressed on his comments.
“I’ve said enough,” he said.
Martin O’Malley Holds Firm Against Trade Deals
Former Gov. Martin O’Malley of Maryland is making a swing through New Hampshire as he mulls running for president, and he did not hold back from sharing his opposition to a proposed trade deal that Hillary Rodham Clinton has yet to take a clear position about.
While touring Alpha Loft, a business incubator, Mr. O’Malley said the latest Trans-Pacific Partnership looked to be a bad deal.
“I’m opposed to T.P.P.,” Mr. O’Malley said. “I don’t know where she stands on that.”
Mr. O’Malley went on to explain that chasing inexpensive labor abroad is not the way to strengthen the United States economy and that doing so is a “falsehood” that Americans need to wake up to. He also used the opportunity to tweak Mrs. Clinton over her previous support of North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement, which some critics have said was bad for the economy.
“There are many that had high hopes for Nafta back when we did that,” he said. “Instead it caused a lot of dislocation.”
Mr. O’Malley is making four stops in New Hampshire and said he would make a decision on running for president, thus challenging Mrs. Clinton on the Democratic side, by the end of the month. He also visited a restaurant, where he greeted customers, discussed his positions on policy issues and talked about his work closing one of the largest for-profit prisons in Maryland while he was governor.
Ian Thomas Jansen-Lonnquist contributed reporting from Manchester, N.H.
Verbatim: For Biden, Amtrak Is Like Family
Amtrak is like a second family to me, as it is for so many other passengers.”
— Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who has made the trip from Wilmington, Del., to Washington weekly throughout much of his career, discussing the train derailment overnight in Philadelphia.
Iraq War Remains a Quagmire That Republicans Hope to Avoid
Twelve years since the United States invaded Iraq, the war remains a quagmire for Republicans who have an eye on the presidency.
Following former Gov. Jeb Bush’s remarks — which he later tried to clarify and play down — that he would have authorized the same war that his brother, President George W. Bush, waged to topple Saddam Hussein, other White House hopefuls in his party in the 2016 race are eagerly making it known they disagree.
Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey appeared happy to weigh in on someone else’s political problem on Tuesday, telling CNN’s Jake Tapper: “If we knew then what we know now and I were the president of the United States, I wouldn’t have gone to war. But you don’t get to replay history.”
Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky also used the opportunity to distance himself from Jeb Bush, telling The Associated Press that arguing that he would do nothing differently suggests that Mr. Bush would just be “George Bush 3.”
“That’s a real problem if he can’t articulate what he would have done differently,” Mr. Paul said.
And Senator Ted Cruz of Texas showed no reluctance to address the hypothetical question of whether the United States should have invaded Iraq if it knew that it lacked weapons of mass destruction when Megyn Kelly of Fox News posed it.
“Of course not,” Mr. Cruz said. “The entire predicate of the war against Iraq was the intelligence that showed they had weapons of mass destruction and that there was a real risk they would use them.”
Senator Marco Rubio of Florida has not yet offered his view on the question, but in a 2010 Senate debate his answer to a question about whether Iraq is better off because of the United States military presence and the war, he did not sound much different than Mr. Bush’s response.
“I think ultimately, yes,” he said, surmising that Iraq would be in an arms race with Iran if it had not been toppled. “First of all, the world is better off because Saddam Hussein is no longer in charge.”
Later on Tuesday, Jeb Bush told Sean Hannity that he misheard the question but declined to address the hypothetical of how he would have handled the war in retrospect.
That reply took a page from another Republican who sought the nomination in 2007, who said it was impossible to know how the war would have played out without weapons of mass destruction because there would not have been a violation of United Nations resolutions.
“The question is, kind of, a non sequitur, if you will,” Mitt Romney said at the time. “So it’s a hypothetical that I think is an unreasonable hypothetical.”
Marco Rubio to Outline His Approach to Foreign Policy
The Obama Doctrine is a slightly saltier version of “Don’t Do Stupid Stuff.” The Bush Doctrine argued for preventive strikes in the interest of self-defense and national security.
And on Wednesday, in a speech before the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida and a 2016 presidential candidate, will outline his own approach to foreign policy.
The Rubio approach, according to excerpts from his speech provided by his campaign, has three main pillars — ensuring American strength; protecting the American economy in a globalized world; and preserving the moral clarity of America’s core values.
Mr. Rubio’s first priority will be to “adequately fund” the nation’s military. “This would be a priority even in times of peace and stability, though the world today is neither,” Mr. Rubio is expected to say.
Mr. Rubio, who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations and Senate Intelligence committees, has used his time in Congress to burnish his foreign policy credits and cast himself as a defense hawk: a position that could help him stand out in a crowded primary field.
In his speech, he will promise to use American power “to oppose any violations of international waters, airspace, cyberspace or outer space,” including the “economic disruption caused when one country invades another,” according to excerpts.
And, Mr. Rubio will offer his greater vision of the country’s broader role in the world.
“As president, I will support the spread of economic and political freedom, reinforce our alliances, resist efforts by large powers to subjugate their smaller neighbors, maintain a robust commitment to transparent and effective foreign assistance programs, and advance the rights of the vulnerable, including women and the religious minorities that are so often persecuted, so that the afflicted peoples of the world know the truth: The American people hear their cries, see their suffering and most of all, desire their freedom,” he is expected to say.
Ana Navarro, Working Hard to Stay in Jeb Bush’s Orbit
Ana Navarro, a television pundit, Twitter commentator and dial-a-zinger, is often identified as a “confidante” of Jeb Bush. While people close to Mr. Bush in Florida politics question that status, there is no questioning that she has worked hard to stay in his orbit.
On July 6, 2006, Ms. Navarro wrote Mr. Bush pitching herself to fill a vacancy on a Miami Dade education board. “I understand though that board seat had been previously occupied by an African American,” she wrote, “I know how important it is to you to have representation reflecting the community. (I am not sure if it is quite appropriate to ask this) but, are you looking to fill that with another African-American or should a Nicaraguan-American apply? :)”
Mr. Bush responded later that day that he would check, and his director of appointments advised him that a “Hispanic will work.” After Mr. Bush verified that there were still “aa’s on the board,” he gave Ms. Navarro the green light to apply.
“No promises,” he wrote.
On Tuesday, Ms. Navarro confirmed that she had received the appointment.
Today in Politics: Trade Measure Is Likely to Make a Quick Return
Good Wednesday morning from Washington. Senate Democrats pushed back on Tuesday against President Obama‘s trade agenda, but the legislation may soon get another look. Hillary Rodham Clinton‘s allies start a new “super PAC,” and Jeb Bush addresses the fallout from his comments on the Iraq war. But this morning, officials are assessing a deadly train crash in Philadelphia.
Mr. Obama‘s trade agenda took a punishing hit in the Senate from his own party on Tuesday, but the trade legislation is certain to be back on the Senate floor and will perhaps make its return very quickly.
Almost as soon as Democrats succeeded in blocking the Republican effort to open the long-awaited trade debate, leaders of the two parties began private talks about how to resurrect the legislation. And Senator Chuck Schumerof New York, the No. 3 Senate Democrat, offered concessions on his push for restrictions on currency manipulation. At the same time, pro-trade Democrats made their way to the White House to plot strategy with the president on how to move forward even though all but one of them had just voted to filibuster the measure.
Democrats said they believed they would ultimately get a better legislative package because they held together on the first test vote. But they also seemed eager to get the fast-track bill back on course. And it seemed unlikely the party’s pro-trade senators, rattled by their need to explain why they voted against trade legislation they supported, could be persuaded to keep holding out against debating the legislation.
With most Democrats anticipating that the measure was destined to pass the Senate despite Tuesday’s messy legislative battle, party officials said they might even try to move rapidly to gain more time to press legislation the party was more unified on, such as the need for a new highway bill and a National Security Agency overhaul.
Republicans were frustrated but held the door wide open on trade. While they often emphasize that it is a major priority of the president’s, it is also a top issue for them and their business allies. They were not about to give up on what could be their chief economic accomplishment this Congress.
— Carl Hulse
Stay tuned throughout the day: Follow us on Twitter @NYTpolitics and on Facebook for First Draft updates.
What We’re Watching Today
Mr. Obama hosts a delegation of Gulf Cooperation Council countries for dinner in the Blue Room of the White House.
Former Gov. Martin O’Malley of Maryland will make four stops in New Hampshire as he continues to consider a presidential run.
Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard chief executive, kicks off the Republican National Committee’s spring meeting in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Citizens Against Government Waste will release its annual “Pig Book,”which lifts the veil on pork-barrel spending.
Republicans Raise Questions About New Clinton ‘Super PAC’
A Democratic outside group planning to restructure itself as a “super PAC” that can coordinate more closely with Mrs. Clinton‘s campaign faced a string of criticism from Republican election law experts late Tuesday.
Questions arose immediately after First Draft reported that Correct the Record, currently part of American Bridge 21st Century, the research super PAC established by David Brock, a Clinton ally, plans to become its own independent super PAC that can coordinate with the campaign and respond to attacks on Mrs. Clinton.
Election law says that a super PAC cannot coordinate with a campaign if it intends to buy ads or advocate on issues, and Republicans were quick to point out the arrangement’s potential pitfalls.
“The plan for the Clinton campaign to knowingly and willfully coordinate with a super PAC, as reported, is a legal nightmare,” said Sean Caincross, a lawyer who has served as a top counsel to the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
Some election lawyers believe Correct the Record is pushing the envelope with its planned use of a super PAC, which can receive unlimited donations but which in previous election cycles has been used primarily to buy ads attacking opponents.
Correct the Record has said that it doesn’t plan to focus on independent expenditure activity, and that it will be able to communicate with campaigns and party committees while also taking in unlimited donations. “The F.E.C. rules specifically permit some activity – in particular, activity on an organization’s website, in email, and on social media – to be legally coordinated with candidates and political parties,” said Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the group. “This exception has been relied upon countless times by organizations raising non-federal money.”
Mr. Caincross and others argue that such a move defies the rules governing super PACs and what they are intended to do, and that the new group should be considered a political action committee, which has strict limits on donations.
Mr. Caincross said he anticipated someone filing a complaint with the Federal Election Commission. But officials there have also publicly said they don’t expect to be an effective watchdog in this cycle.
– Maggie Haberman
Our Favorites From The Times
Senate Democrats blocked consideration of a measure giving Mr. Obamapower to accelerate a broad trade accord with Asia, a rebuke that the president helped bring on himself. Where do Republican presidential hopefuls stand on the issue?
Mr. Bush backpedaled on his comments regarding the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He said on Tuesday that he had misunderstood a question.
Jason Horowitz profiles Ana Navarro, who is often identified as a “confidante” of Mr. Bush and who on Tuesday morning tried to explain his remarks on the invasion of Iraq.
Mr. Bush appears ready to skip the Iowa straw poll, which has been criticized as a poor predictor of the state’s caucuses and may undergo changes.
What We’re Reading Elsewhere
The Dayton Daily News reports that Senator Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat, said Mr. Obama was disrespectful to Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts by referring to her by her first name and saying she is “a politician like everybody else.”
The first Republican debate will most likely be on Aug. 6 in Cleveland, Cleveland.com reports, citing party officials.
H. W. Brands gives a preview of his new biography of former President Ronald Reagan in Politico Magazine.
The Wall Street Journal takes a peek at the newfound prominence of Millsfield, N.H.
Are the Obamas bound for New York? The Washington Post reports that’s where they may be headed after their younger daughter, Sasha, finishes high school post-White House.
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