FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2016
Today’s Good News And Bad News
From Our Local Political Junkie We’ll Call “Cincy Dave”

BAD NEWS FOR HILLARY
Hillary submitted formal answers under penalty of perjury on Thursday about her use of a private email server, saying 20 times that she did not recall the requested information or related discussions, while also asserting that no one ever warned her that the practice could run afoul of laws on preserving federal records. “Secretary Clinton states that she does not recall being advised, cautioned, or warned, she does not recall that it was ever suggested to her, and she does not recall participating in any communication, conversation, or meeting in which it was discussed that her use of a clintonemail.com e-mail account to conduct official State Department business conflicted with or violated federal recordkeeping laws,” lawyers for Clinton wrote. Clinton also said she could not recall ever being warned about any hacking or attempted hacking of her private account or server.

Clinton signed the legal filing Monday “under penalty of perjury.” The submission was ordered by a federal judge in connection with a Freedom of Information Action lawsuit filed by the conservative group Judicial Watch. The “I don’t recall” defense is the same one that President Reagan successfully used to avoid impeachment during the Iran-Contra scandal, so it is unlikely that Hillary’s adversaries will be able to do anything with the information. After all, it is very hard to prove that someone remembers something that they say they can’t remember. We don’t know yet if, like Reagan, Hillary’s forgetfulness is due to the beginning stages of Alzheimer’s.

TRUMP GOES FULL BREITBART
“Hillary Clinton meets in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of U.S. sovereignty,” Trump says in one of his darkest speeches yet. With 25 days left in an election campaign he now has a minuscule chance of winning, Donald Trump is in full black-helicopter mode. The Republican nominee let loose a fusillade of anger and blame-shifting invective Thursday in his first speech since several women came forward to accuse him of touching them without their consent. His targets: Everybody. He slammed a political establishment he described as clinging to power and a subservient “corporate media” — blaming both for the spate of stories detailing strikingly similar allegations of unwanted groping from a number of women over several decades. As we know, Breitbart is now running the Trump campaign. Here is the link to the Breitbart website and story, but be careful roaming around over there. It can get pretty nasty. 

MISS UTAH
Former Miss Utah comes forward on NBC to describe The Donald’s inappropriately kissing her on two different occasions. This makes at least a half-dozen women with similar stories, so far. Are there more to come? 

VIRGINIUS INTERRUPTUS
The Donald pulled out of Virginia yesterday, effectively conceding the state’s 13 Electoral Votes to Hillary. There are two reasons for pulling campaign resources from a state: either because you’re sure you’re going to lose or because you’re sure you’re going to win. In this case, it is the former. In August, Hillary pulled all of her campaign ads out of Virginia because of the latter. Virginia was once a solidly Republican State but it was won by Barack Obama the last two times. It looks like the Capital of the Confederacy will again fall to the blue forces. With North Carolina and Florida likely to follow, the Confederate States base of the modern Republican Party has been reduced to only 8 states.

TRUMP VS. THE GOP
Trump’s war with the GOP is, in part, based on fact. The RNC has not spent a single penny on TV ads for Donald Trump since he was formally nominated as the Republican presidential candidate. Zero. In 2008 and 2012, the RNC spent tens of millions of dollars for the Republican presidential candidates, John McCain and Mitt Romney. But this year they haven’t put up a single ad. As a result, the well-funded campaign of Hillary is drowning Trump on the air. Clinton and her allies have spent $189 million on TV ads through the end of last week. Trump and all his allies combined have spent $50 million, so the Democrats have outspent the Republicans more than three to one. The decision not to take part in the air war may reflect the RNC’s dislike for Trump, but it could also be something more mundane: lack of money. This year the RNC has taken in $231 million, compared to the $356 million it had raised at this point in 2012. To make it even worse, many of the big donors, such as the Koch brothers, are not contributing anything to the Republican presidential effort. TV advertising isn’t everything, of course. The ground operation is also important, and there, too, Clinton has a huge head start, with far more offices and paid staffers on the ground than Trump.

TODAY’S STATE POLLS
If these are to be believed, things are looking good for Hillary, although she still has a little work to do in Ohio. Pennsylvania, the keystone in the so-called “blue wall” is solid for her. The Donald once thought he could take Pa. but that was a while ago.

— More Good News And Bad News Tomorrow —