Good morning everyone! Happy Thursday to you!

Joining today's show are Cokie Roberts, Michael Steele, Josh Green, Kristen Soltis Anderson, Mark Halperin, Fmr. Sen. Rick Santorum, Jamie Weinstein, Ron Fournier, Kasie Hunt, Chuck Todd, Hallie Jackson, Joe Klein, Nancy Gibbs, Gov. Chris Christie, Dr. Zeke Emanuel, Dr. Dave Campbell, Sara Eisen, Bill Press and more and in Taji, Japan today, the killing boats are driving in a pod of dolphins, moving quickly. The dolphins are fighting not to be driven into the harbor. Boats are trying to gain control. The small pod of Risso's dolphins have been killed and taken to the butcher house. The cove is now empty, and our world ocean is a little more empty as well. 12:18pm ‪#‎dolphinproject‬ ‪#‎tweet4dolphins‬
Jeb Bush to audience: 'Please clap':
Clinton, Sanders clash over what it means to be progressiveDemocratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders traded barbs Wednesday night over who best embodies progressive values.

At a CNN town hall in Derry, New Hampshire, ahead of next Tuesday's first-in-the-nation primary, Sanders slammed Clinton, arguing that she's out of step with the party's base on issues ranging from campaign finance to climate change, trade and the Iraq War.

Sanders: Clinton can't be 'moderate' and 'progressive' 01:24
"I do not know any progressive who has a super PAC and takes $15 million from Wall Street," Sanders told CNN moderator Anderson Cooper. "That's just not progressive. As I mentioned earlier, the key foreign policy vote of modern American history was the war in Iraq. The progressive community was pretty united in saying, 'Don't listen to Bush. Don't go to war.' Secretary Clinton voted to go to war."

Clinton: I'm a progressive who likes to get things done

Clinton: I'm a progressive who likes to get things done 01:26
Clinton shot back in her session following Sanders, quipping that she was "amused" that the Vermont senator appears to consider himself the "gatekeeper on who's progressive."

"So I'm not going to let that bother me," she said. "I know where I stand."

Tension between Clinton, Sanders
The exchange captured the tension that is building between Clinton and Sanders ahead of the primary. Since Monday night's Iowa caucuses, which Clinton very narrowly won, the two have volleyed sharp words over the ideological direction of the Democratic Party in the post-Barack Obama era. The race, however, isn't nearly as negative as the Republican primary contest, which was dominated on Wednesday by personal attacks between Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and Ben Carson.

Clinton delivered an uneven performance at the event, sounding confident on policy answers and connecting with the audience when she shared moments from her personal life but stumbling on topics that have dogged her throughout the campaign, including her vote on the Iraq War and her relationship with Wall Street.

Her toughest moment of the night came when she was asked to address the paid speeches she gave at Goldman Sachs after leaving the State Department.

Clinton started to explain that Goldman wasn't the only group that paid her for speeches. But when Cooper interjected and asked, "Did you have to be paid $675,000?" Clinton appeared caught off guard.

"Well, I don't know. Um, that's what they offered," she said. Clinton went on to insist that at the time of the speeches, she was undecided on whether to seek the White House.

"I didn't know, to be honest, I wasn't -- I wasn't committed to running," Clinton said, uncharacteristically tripping over her words. "I didn't -- I didn't know whether I was running or not. I didn't."

And in one of the more revealing exchanges of the night, Cooper asked Clinton what would be wrong with the so-called "political revolution" that Sanders frequent calls for. Clinton paused before responding: "That's for Sen. Sanders to explain."

'Vast right-wing conspiracy'
Clinton: Right-wing conspiracy has gotten better funded

Asked about one of her most famous quotes from the 1990s, Clinton said she still believes that there is a "vast right-wing conspiracy."

"Don't you?" she asked Cooper. "It's gotten even better funded. They brought in some new multi-millionaires to pump the money in."

The 60 minutes Clinton stood on stage also confirmed, once again, that her vote for the Iraq War continues to haunt her 13 years later.

One woman who was chosen to ask a question praised Clinton for her foreign policy experience, but said: "I get stuck when I think about you voted for the Iraq war, which you now say was a mistake."

"What have you learned since that vote that could give me confidence that you wouldn't make a mistake of that magnitude again?" she said.

"I think that's a very fair question," Clinton responded. "I did make a mistake and I admitted that I made a mistake."

Meanwhile, Sanders, a self-proclaimed democratic socialist, found himself defending his own credentials as a member of the Democratic Party, noting that the party's leadership on Capitol Hill has placed him in high-ranking positions on congressional committees."Of course I am a Democrat and running for the Democratic nomination," he said.

Sanders pushed back on the suggestion that Clinton is a better general-election candidate than he would be. The senator, who has drawn massive crowds to his campaign rallies and has somewhat of a cult following among younger voters, said history shows that Democrats win elections when there is large voter turnout.

There is simply more enthusiasm fueling his campaign than Clinton's, he said.

'Excitement and energy'
"An objective assessment," Sanders argued, "would say there is more excitement and energy in our campaign."

Sanders: I want Trump to win the Republican nomination

He also took a shot at Trump, calling him a candidate who doesn't support working Americans. But as much as Sanders doesn't like the Republican's agenda, the senator said he would delight in taking him on in November.

"I want Trump to win the Republican nomination and I would love the opportunity to run against him," he said. "I think we would win by a lot."

Trump quickly responded with a swipe at Sanders on Twitter.

"Sanders says he wants to run against me because he doesn't want to run against me," Trump said. "He would be so easy to beat!"

Polls in New Hampshire suggest the primary will not be as close as the nail-biting Democratic caucuses in Iowa. Sanders, riding his high favorability in a state that borders his stomping ground of Vermont, has a strong advantage, leading Clinton 55% to 37% in the latest CNN Poll of Polls.

Still, Sanders insisted that he's the underdog in the Democratic race despite his commanding lead in New Hampshire polls.

"Of course we're an underdog. We are taking on the most powerful political organization in the country," Sanders told Cooper in another clear swipe at Clinton. "We started this campaign nationally, as you well know, 40, 50, points behind Secretary Clinton ... I think it's fair to say we have come a pretty long way in the last nine months."

Clinton defends progressive record against Sanders critique

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders opened up a new line of attack in the Democratic presidential primary on Wednesday, putting Hillary Clinton on the defensive over her liberal credentials just days after she eked a slim victory in the Iowa caucuses.

Sanders, who has a sizable lead in the upcoming New Hampshire primary, rattled off a list of issues where Clinton isn't in sync with the liberal wing of the party, including trade, Wall Street regulation, climate change, campaign finance and the 2002 authorization of the war in Iraq.

"I do not know any progressive who has a super PAC and takes $15 million from Wall Street," Sanders said, during a candidate forum sponsored by CNN. "That's just not progressive."

Clinton moved quickly to defend her record, saying that under Sanders' criteria President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and even the deceased Minnesota Sen. Paul Wellstone, a champion of liberal causes, would not be considered progressive.

"I know where I stand," said Clinton. "But I don't think it helps for the senator to be making those kinds of comparisons because clearly we all share the same hopes and aspirations for our country."

She also pushed back on charges by Sanders and his allies that she cannot be trusted to regulate Wall Street because of the millions in speaking fees she made from the industry before announcing her presidential bid. An Associated Press analysis of public disclosure forms and records released by her campaign found that Clinton made $9 million from appearances sponsored by banks, insurance companies, hedge funds, private equity firms and real estate businesses.

Clinton said she was still deciding whether to run for president when she accepted the appearances

"I don't know," she said, when asked why she was paid such a high speaking fee. "That is what they offered."

The back-and-forth on progressive credentials was the latest example of tensions between Clinton and Sanders as the race nears the Feb. 9 New Hampshire primary. The Democratic rivals are expected to appear at a debate on Thursday night and both camps have quarreled over the timing and locations of three debates planned for later this spring.

Clinton has questioned Sanders' commitment to gun control and whether his proposal to create a universal health care system might endanger Obama's signature health care law. Sanders, meanwhile, casts Clinton as an establishment figure and an inconsistent champion of liberal causes such as the environment, trade and campaign finance reform.

Speaking at a town hall meeting in Derry, New Hampshire earlier in the day, the former secretary of state called Sanders attacks on her ideology a "low blow," before listing a series of liberal accomplishments that she described as progressive, including her work on expanding access to children's health insurance, advocating for women and gay people and pushing for gun control measures.

"We've been fighting the progressive fight and getting results for people for years," Clinton said. "I hope we keep it on the issues. Because if it's about our records, hey, I'm going to win by a landslide."

But Clinton's team clearly sees an opening in Sanders' comment. On Twitter, Clinton's top spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri compared it to the moment in 2008 when President Barack Obama said during a debate that Clinton was "likable enough," which prompted criticism from Clinton supporters.

The attack came from a comment Clinton made at a campaign event in September, when she was describing tax cuts passed under former President George W. Bush and noted that she's occasionally been called a moderate. "I plead guilty," she told the crowd in Columbus, Ohio.

Sanders cited her words in a Wednesday evening news conference in Concord, before noting that she has done some "progressive things" like advocating for children.

"This is not a low blow. There's nothing wrong with people who are moderates. Some of my best friends are moderates," he said. "All I was doing was repeating what she actually said."

Sanders' razor-thin loss in the Iowa caucuses Monday, and his formidable lead in New Hampshire polls, have heightened the possibility that the two remaining Democrats will be involved in a protracted fight for the nomination.

"We are in this until the convention," Sanders told reporters on Tuesday. He said the narrow Iowa outcome showed his campaign's ability to take on Clinton's vast political network and address doubts among voters about his electability.

Clinton acknowledged that she yet to win over broad swaths of the party, particularly younger voters. In Iowa, Sanders won 84 percent of voters under age 30 and 58 percent of those aged 30-44 according to entrance polls.

"I respect the fact that I have work to do," said Clinton. "They don't have to be for me, I will be for them." Associated Press writer's Lisa Lerer, Catherine Lucey, Ken Thomas contributed to this report from Keene, N.H.

Donald Trump MASSIVE Rally in Little Rock, AR:
GOP Presidential candidate Donald Trump held a campaign rally in Little Rock, AR and spoke to a record crowd at the Barton Coliseum. It was announced that the old record was held by ZZ Top.

'Trumpertantrum': Trump Says Cruz Cheated In Iowa, Wants Results OverturnedTwo days after finishing second in Iowa, Donald Trump is now alleging that winner Ted Cruz cheated and is threatening to sue over the results.

The confrontational billionaire made his complaints known in his usual way — a series of tweets. The crux of his complaint: the Texas senator's campaign committed "fraud" when it informed caucusgoers of a CNN report that rival Ben Carson was leaving the campaign trail to head home to Florida after the Iowa caucuses, which many speculated meant he might drop out.


Ted Cruz didn't win Iowa, he stole it. That is why all of the polls were so wrong and why he got far more votes than anticipated. Bad!


Based on the fraud committed by Senator Ted Cruz during the Iowa Caucus, either a new election should take place or Cruz results nullified.
The State of Iowa should disqualify Ted Cruz from the most recent election on the basis that he cheated- a total fraud!

Carson's campaign put out an unusual statement during the caucuses that he wasn't quitting but simply "needs to go home and get a fresh set of clothes" at his house in Florida.

Cruz's campaign told its precinct captains to inform voters about that, suggesting Carson would no longer be in the race soon. Carson accused Cruz of "dirty tricks" the day after the caucuses, and Cruz later apologized to Carson for it. The normally mild-mannered retired neurosurgeon said that "whoever is responsible for blatant lying should be dismissed."

But Wednesday, Cruz defended his team's actions, saying he would not throw staff under the bus and questioned whether "passing on a true and accurate news story" was a dirty trick. The CNN story Cruz was referring to only noted that Carson was going home to Florida, not that he was "making a big announcement" in addition, which is what the Cruz campaign sent out to precinct captains.

On Wednesday, Trump seemed to take Carson's side, saying on Boston Herald radio that the Cruz campaign's response was "one of the most disgusting things I've ever seen" and that he "probably will" sue over the results.

"What he did is unthinkable," Trump continued. "He said the man has left the race, and he said it during the caucus. And then when the clarification was put out by Ben Carson saying it's untrue, they got the statement, and they didn't put it out."

The GOP caucuses are not run by the state and are instead put on by each political party. Carson finished a distant fourth Monday night, with 9 percent of the vote. Cruz took 28 percent, followed by Trump at 24 percent. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio was a surprisingly strong third with 23.1 percent.

Carson — who has still not been to New Hampshire since Iowa — hastily called a press conference Wednesday afternoon to presumably criticize Cruz. But when pressed by reporters, he wouldn't directly take on Cruz. That's despite a press release before the news conference that cited Jesus' Sermon on the Mount as evidence that "how a person conducts his life or campaign is an indication of who he is."

"I'm saying that evangelical voters, just like everybody else, should listen to what I just said," Carson said at the news conference. "Evaluate people on what they do, how they treat other people."

Speaking about making the trek to Florida, Carson asked this rhetorical question: "Is it wrong to go home and get a change of clothes after being on the road for several weeks? Or does that make me an evil, horrible person?"

Cruz responded to Trump's threats and complaints, calling the complaints a "Trumpertantrum."


Yet another ... very angry w/the people of Iowa. They actually looked at his record.


"My girls are 5 and 7, and I gotta tell you, Caroline and Catherine are better-behaved than a presidential candidate," Cruz said campaigning in New Hampshire. "We need a commander in chief, not a Twitter-er in chief."

Ted Cruz apologizes to Ben CarsonRepublican Ben Carson Tuesday called for the firing of a Ted Cruz campaign staffer who said the retired neurosurgeon was planning to drop out.

"I think whoever is responsible for blatant lying should be dismissed, absolutely. Unless that kind of behavior is acceptable in your campaign culture," Carson told CNN's Jake Tapper on "The Lead."

One day after winning the Iowa caucuses, Cruz issued an apology to Carson after his staff falsely told Iowa caucusgoers that Carson planned to quit the race, calling it a "mistake."

Cruz said in a statement Tuesday that his campaign staff saw a CNN report that Carson was dropping out, although CNN had not characterized Carson's actions that way.

"Last night when our political team saw the CNN post saying that Dr. Carson was not carrying on to New Hampshire and South Carolina, our campaign updated grassroots leaders just as we would with any breaking news story," Cruz said in a statement first shared with CNN. "That's fair game. What the team then should have done was send around the follow-up statement from the Carson campaign clarifying that he was indeed staying in the race when that came out."

Carson said Tuesday he accepted the apology, but questioned whether there was a deeper "cultural issue" with Cruz's campaign.

"As a Christian I will accept the apology but it doesn't correct the problem," Carson told CNN. "This is a cultural issue when people in your campaign feel that it's ok to distort the issues to their political advantage and to tell absolute lies. And the question really is will there be any consequences for that."

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus told Tapper on "The Lead" Tuesday that he would not get in the middle of the fight between Cruz and Carson.

"Look, for me to get in the middle of litigating these things that are going on behind the scenes, that we find out about the next day -- I think it was explained by one of the campaigns as to what happened, I think you take them at their word for it and we move onto the next state," Priebus said.

CNN reported that the retired neurosurgeon planned to go home to Florida after the Iowa caucuses, rather than flying straight to New Hampshire or South Carolina, where the next primary contests are held. His aides have emphasized that he is not suspending his campaign -- rather, just briefly going home to "get a fresh set of clothes."

But the Cruz campaign reacted to the news by incorrectly telling precinct captains -- while the caucuses were still taking place -- that the move signaled Carson would be dropping out of the race.

Twenty minutes after the caucuses began in Iowa, Rep. Steve King, the Cruz campaign's national co-chair, retweeted CNN's Chris Moody about Carson's break from the campaign trail before New Hampshire's primary.

"Carson looks like he is out. Iowans need to know before they vote. Most will go to Cruz, I hope," King tweeted. In another tweet, the congressman said Carson's next steps were "equivalent of suspending."


Cruz Iowa staffer Spence Rogers also suggested in an email to precinct captains that Carson may be announcing the end of his campaign next week.

"Breaking News. The press is reporting that Dr. Ben Carson is taking time off from the campaign trail after Iowa and making a big announcement next week," the email read. "Please inform any Carson caucus goers of this news and urge them to caucus for Ted Cruz."

Carson said Tuesday that he merely wants to sleep in his own bed before heading back out on the trail.

"Anybody who's been on the road for almost three weeks recognizes exactly what I'm talking about -- you need some fresh clothes. It's not like you're going to be there forever," Carson told CNN. "It's very nice to sleep in your own bed every now and then. And if anybody can't understand that I feel sorry for them."

7News/UMass Lowell New Hampshire tracking poll day 4It's not an earthquake, yet...But the political ground in New Hampshire is moving.

We're seeing more of Iowa's impact, and the war of words underway here.

Hillary Clinton is coming back; and Marco Rubio is coming up.

Watch 7News streaming live on mobile / desktop.

Donald Trump stays in first, with 36%; Rubio takes over second place, with 15%. Ted Cruz, now in third, has 14%. Jeb Bush, 8%; and John Kasich 7%.

For the rest of the Republicans: Chris Christie, 5 %, Ben Carson, 4%; Carly Fiorina 3% and undecided 8%.

Our tracking poll show its all: Trump on top, but down two points-- the first time he's dropped in our poll. 

Marco Rubio shoots into second place, with 15%, a gain of three points overnight.

Ted Cruz holds his support, but slips into third place.

Jeb Bush lost a point; no change for John Kasich.

In the Democratic race, Hillary Clinton can start thinking about a comeback, and Bernie Sanders is coming down.

Sanders still has a significant lead over Clinton-- 58% to 36%-- a 22 point margin.

But look at the direction of the tracks: Sanders is down three and Clinton is up four, our biggest single gain since we started this poll.

You see the trends, and so will the candidates.

They're good for Rubio and Clinton... and not very good for anyone else.

Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders need to win big here, and our tracking poll shows both are losing ground right now.

This time next week, we'll know the winners.

Between now and then, this is the best way to see who's going to win.

Chris Christie Literally Can’t Stop Calling Marco Rubio ‘Boy in the Bubble’Whether it’s Marco Rubio or President Obama, New Jersey Governor and Republican presidential hopeful Chris Christie just can’t seem to stop calling certain political figures “boy.” On Tuesday, Christie followed up his blip of a showing in the Iowa caucuses by deriding triumphant bronze medalist Rubio in what he must have thought was the cleverest way imaginable. Either that, or an old gypsy told him that every time he said a certain phrase, he’d gain a point in the New Hampshire polls. See if you can guess what that phrase was:

You know me, unlike some of these other campaigns, I’m not the boy in the bubble. We know who the boy in the bubble is up here, who never answers your questions, who’s constantly scripted and controlled because he can’t answer your questions. So when Senator Rubio gets here, when the boy in the bubble gets here, I hope you guys ask him some questions because it’s time for him to start answering questions. He wants to say this race is over and it’s all him. Seems to me that he should have to sit across from you and answer the questions the way I did, and you and you and you, and he hasn’t.

So now it’s time for him to man up and step up and stop letting all of his handlers write his speeches and handle him because that’s what they do. But that’s what you’ve had to do for someone who’s never done anything like that. So let’s get him up here. Let’s get the boy in the bubble out of the bubble. Let’s see if he’ll answer some of your questions. Let’s see if he’ll gaggle with you guys every day like I’m here. Let’s see if he’ll answer your questions because I don’t think he will.

You know why? Because I don’t think he can. I don’t think he wants to sit here and answer your tough questions about his flip-flops on immigration, he wants to answer your tough questions about his lack of record and inexperience, he wants to answer your questions about why he ran away from his own immigration bill when it got too hot, I’m fascinated to hear the answers and I’m sure you will be too. And maybe he’ll answer more than two or three questions at a town hall meeting and do more than 40 minutes on a little stage telling everybody his canned speech that he’s memorized over the course of his time. This isn’t the student council election, everybody. This is an election for the president of the United States. Let’s get the boy in the bubble out of the bubble and let’s see him play for the next week in New Hampshire. I’m ready to play.

Do you get the feeling Chris Christie was left alone one weekend as a child, with only a single John Travolta videocassette to keep him company? Or maybe he just really didn’t like the look of the real boy in the bubble, who died when he was 12 years old.

Rubio was asked about the remark, and fired back at Christie like a defective Super-Soaker:

He’s had a — I think it’s been a tough couple of days for Chris and some of the other guys. They’re not doing well. Some people react badly sometimes to adversity. Look, this campaign isn’t about personal insults. If they want to do that, that’s fine. It will reflect on them, not on me.

Weak, Marco. I’m from Jersey, so let me help you out.

“Hey, I might be the boy in the bubble, but this f*ckin’ guy is the bubble!”

“Well, at least the lap band worked on his poll numbers!”

“Let’s see how many lanes he can close in New Hampshire, gah-BEESH?”

Christie on Clinton: I'll 'beat her rear end'New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Wednesday vowed to defeat Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton in a general election matchup, declaring that he would "beat her rear end."

"You know the last person she wants to see on that stage in September? You're looking at him," he said in a packed restaurant in Lebanon, New Hampshire.

"Man, she sees a federal prosecutor on the stage, I'll beat her rear end on that stage," he added. "And you know what, after I do, she'll be relieved because she'll just be worried I was going to serve her with a subpoena."

The Clinton campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Christie is not the first Republican to raise eyebrows with strong language directed toward Clinton, who is seeking to become the first female president.

In December, Donald Trump said she "got schlonged" by Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential race.

And last month, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz cited Clinton's conduct and public comments surrounding the Benghazi terrorist attack when he said voters "have a way of administering a spanking," similar to how he spanks his 5-year-old daughter. CNN's Eugene Scott and Cassie Spodak contributed to this report.

Santorum suspends 2016 presidential campaign, endorses Marco RubioFormer Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum announced Wednesday in an exclusive interview on Fox News’ "On the Record with Greta Van Susteren" he is suspending his 2016 presidential campaign and endorsing Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.

Santorum said he came to the decision after discussing it with his wife Karen after the Iowa caucuses. 

“We decided that we could be better advocates in supporting someone who shared those values and will do better in this race,” Santorum told Van Susteren.

While saying he does not “endorse lightly,” Santorum described Rubio as “the new generation, and someone who can bring the country together.” 

“We wanted to find a candidate that really espoused the values we believed in,” he said. 

The decision comes after a poor showing in Monday's Iowa caucuses. 

Santorum came in 11th place and picked up just 1 percent of the Iowa vote, despite winning the caucuses when he ran for the Republican nomination four years ago.

Santorum is the fourth White House hopeful to drop out of the race this week. 

Earlier Wednesday, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul announced he would suspend his bid, following former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in leaving the race. On the 

Democratic side, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, who placed a distant third in caucuses, also announced Monday he would drop out. Fox News' Carl Cameron contributed to this report. 

Despite Endorsement, Rick Santorum Completely Fails to Identify a Rubio AccomplishmentFresh off of his withdrawal from the Republican race for the Presidency, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum offered his passionate endorsement for Marco Rubio yesterday. Rubio, the Florida Senator who finished third in Iowa on Monday, has been gaining momentum heading into next week’s New Hampshire primary, and the endorsement from Santorum was a boost for his campaign.

However, on Thursday morning, Santorum was utterly unable to answer a direct question from Morning Joe‘s Joe Scarborough:

“What do you list as Marco Rubio’s top accomplishment?”.

What followed was a dizzying array of questionable sidesteps and half-answers from Santorum, who himself won the Iowa Caucus in 2012. To Scarborough’s question, Santorum meekly managed to say that Rubio, “[Won] a tough election in Florida, pull[ing] people together from a variety of spots.”

Scarborough wasn’t having it, and repeated the question multiple times while others on the Morning Joe panel laughed at the absurdity of the situation.
Screen Shot 2016-02-04 at 7.22.18 AM 
“He’s someone who brings people together!” Santorum admitted sheepishly.

“He’s been in the Senate four years. Can you name his top accomplishment?” pressed Scarborough once more.

Mika Brzezinski pushed the former Pennsylvania Senator further, leading him with “Jeb Bush ran Florida. Donald Trump built a company. Marco Rubio… finish the sentence.” Predictably, Santorum could not, though he maintained his smile throughout the brief interview.

Scarborough admitted afterwards that ironically, it was Santorum’s work in the Senate — not necessarily Rubio’s — that was deserving of praise, noting that it would be easy to identify accomplishments of Santorum’s.


Jimmy Carter: I would choose Donald Trump over Ted Cruz. Former President Jimmy Carter told the British Parliament on Wednesday that if he had to choose between Republican candidates Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, he'd prefer to see Trump win the White House.

"I think I would choose Trump," the liberal former president said to the House of Lords, when asked about the U.S. presidential race, "which may surprise some of you, but the reason is Trump has proven already that he's completely malleable. I don't think he has any fixed opinions that he would really go to the White House and fight for."

By contrast, Mr. Carter said, "Ted Cruz is not malleable. He has far right-wing policies, in my opinion, that would be pursued aggressively if and when he would become president."

Ted Cruz on Donald Trump: "He's losing it"
Carly Fiorina demands a spot in Saturday GOP debate

Later in the day in Nashua, New Hamsphire, Cruz told supporters about the former president's remarks.

"Today -- and I'm not making this up -- Jimmy Carter endorsed Donald Trump," he said. "Here's what Jimmy Carter said: the reason is Donald's views are malleable, he has no core beliefs on anything... This Cruz guy actually believes this stuff."

Cruz added, "I want the video, and I am going to pay to air Jimmy Carter attacking me."

Of course, Mr. Carter didn't "endorse" Trump, as Cruz said.

The former president reminded the British lawmakers that he's a Democrat, and he said he'll support whichever Democratic candidate wins the nomination.

"It's very likely Hillary Clinton will still prevail in the Democratic Party," Carter said. "Bernie Sanders, though, has had a remarkable showing, particularly among young people."

Carter said the future of the Republican Party is "almost completely unpredictable," though he ventured that Trump will ultimately "fade away... when people get ready to actually put on a ballot, 'this is a person I want to lead me for the next four years.'"

He also observed that Cruz has "zero support" from his fellow senators. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Carter speculated, "has a better chance, ultimately, than Ted Cruz."

Carter also lamented the "massive infusion of money into the American political system."

That is a sick jam DJ Q did at the 1hr and 47M outro. I know it was the Grateful Dead with Jerry (Garcia) on guitar. Usually they just play the studio version of say Truckin or Touch Of Grey but this was from a live show and it was just the jam. 
The prominent liberal syndicated radio and television host concisely explains the many ways President Obama has failed to live up to either his promises or his progressive potential, leaving Democrats disillusioned on the issues that matter most.

Bill Press—a progressive champion and former chair of the California Democratic Party, a one-time co-host of CNN’s Crossfire, and the popular nationally syndicated radio and television host of The Bill Press Show—reflects back on what for many progressives has been a disappointing presidency and comes to a depressing conclusion: Obama grossly misunderstood the mandate of the enthusiastic crowds that swarmed him on the campaign trail. Instead of recognizing their burning desire for strong progressive leadership, Obama tried to be a “post-partisan” president. The tragedy of Barack Obama is that, in trying to become the great uniter, he has instead become a grave disappointment.

From climate change to gun safety to, yes, even health care, Obama’s legacy on important issues falls far short of what could have been. Time and again, he let down his most impassioned supporters—the ones who used their powerful voices to vote for change—neglecting their priorities and wasting his potential by either not doing enough or, worse, repeating the errors of his predecessor.


President Obama rode into office on a celebratory tide of liberal jubilation, but as his typically centrist presidency comes to a close, he leaves his supporters haunted by what might have been.

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Don Lichterman: Do Rhinos run for thunder?
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