Other Republican 2016 candidates are sharply criticizing Donald Trump for disrespecting John McCain, because while disparaging all Mexican people is one thing, insulting a member of the ruling class is quite another. Charlie Crist said he would consider running for Congress if a redrawn district included his home and if he could also bring his little fan. And Jeb Bush said he wants to challenge the culture of Washington, which is hopefully bad news for Seersucker Thursdays. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Monday, July 20th, 2015:
SANDERS TO PUSH $15 MINIMUM WAGE - Tim Devaney: "Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is pushing new legislation to raise the minimum wage for all workers to $15 an hour. The Democratic presidential candidate, who has made addressing income inequality a centerpiece of his campaign, will introduce the minimum wage bill Wednesday. Sanders has long called for a $15 minimum wage, but this is the first bill he is introducing to do so. … Sanders' minimum wage bill would go a step further than one proposed earlier this year by fellow Democrat Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), who suggested raising it to $12 an hour." [The Hill]
Bob Menendez is mad at the Justice Department.
HILLARY CLINTON GLAD TO HAVE MISSED NETROOTS NATION - Amanda Terkel: "Hillary Clinton attempted on Monday to distinguish her views on racial inequality from those of her Democratic presidential rivals, who drew boos from 'Black Lives Matter' activists at a progressive conference over the weekend. 'Racial inequality is not merely a symptom of economic inequality,' Clinton said when asked in a Facebook question-and-answer session how she would have responded to the protesters at Netroots Nation, an annual gathering of progressive activists." [HuffPost]
"Charlie Crist is going to run for office again. But, why?"
JEB! COMES OUT AGAINST WASHINGTON CORRUPTION - No word on yet whether the anti-Washington message is popular with voters. Michael Barbaro: "Jeb Bush outlined on Monday a sweeping and detailed plan to rein in the size of the federal government and to curb the influence of the lobbyists who live off it, calling for a 10 percent reduction in workers, an immediate hiring freeze, a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget and a six-year waiting period before members of Congress can become lobbyists." [NYT]
SENATORS SEE HIGHWAY BILL SAVINGS IN SOCIAL SECURITY - This proposal would work better if it renamed targeted Social Security recipients "welfare recipients" before it cut their benefits. With Laura Barron-Lopez: "With 11 days left before federal funding runs out for the nation’s highways, bridges and roads, lawmakers are rushing to find a way to pay for an extension. One potential fix: slash Social Security benefits for so-called fugitives. This week the Senate is expected to move on a long-term extension to the Highway Trust Fund, which has been plagued by short funding patches since 2009. So far, few details have emerged on the duration of the bill or how the upper chamber plans to pay for it. But if Congress wants at least a six-year bill, they will have to come up with $100 billion in offsets. Interest groups that lobby against Social Security cuts are worried about two options senators are eyeing to help pay for the fund. One measure would save money by eliminating Social Security benefits for people with outstanding warrants for their arrest, and another measure would prevent Social Security Disability Insurance recipients from simultaneously collecting unemployment insurance." [HuffPost]
Campaign operatives don't even have the guts to criticize Donald Trump on the record, Erik Wemple has discovered.
WALKER AND BUSH FIGHT OVER WHETHER TO BOMB IRAN ON INAUGURATION DAY OR DAY AFTER - Igor Bobic: "Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) said over the weekend that the next president of the United States needed to be prepared to take aggressive military action on their very first day in office, including against Iran. The presidential contender, who had promised to 'terminate' the nuclear agreement with Iran upon his inauguration, made the remark while speaking with reporters at the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa, on Saturday. Walker was asked about a criticism from former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R), who asserted during a town hall last week that unwinding the agreement on day one was an unrealistic promise. 'One thing that I won’t do is just say, as a candidate, ‘I’m going to tear up the agreement on the first day,’' Bush said in Nevada on Thursday. First, said Bush, he needs to have his team in place. 'That’s great, that sounds great but maybe you ought to check in with your allies first, maybe you ought to appoint a secretary of state, maybe secretary of defense, you might want to have your team in place, before you take an act like that.'" Bok bok bok! [HuffPost]
@Darth is helping us spread awareness of the fact that Donald Trump is Biff from Back to the Future Part II.
Haircut week: Jason Cherkis, Jen Bendery
DAILY DELANEY DOWNER - Food stamp fistfight: "A 20-year-old man suffered facial injuries after he was punched during an argument over the use of an EBT card, officials said today." [PostBulletin.com]
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PLANNED PARENTHOOD EXPECTING MORE UNDERCOVER VIDS - Laura Bassett: An attorney for Planned Parenthood warned Congress on Monday that he expects the Center for Medical Progress, an undercover anti-abortion group, to release more sting videos that claim the family planning provider is engaged in illegal and racially biased activities. The GOP-led House Energy and Commerce Committee launched an investigation into Planned Parenthood last week after the CMP released a sting video that appeared to show one of the organization's top doctors discussing the sale of fetal body parts after an abortion. Planned Parenthood sometimes donates, but does not sell, fetal tissue for scientific research at the request of its patients, the family planning provider's attorney, Roger Evans, told the committee in a letter on Monday. He also said the CMP posed as a fetal tissue procurement company called Biomax in order to gain access to Planned Parenthood doctors and facilities, and likely has 'thousands of hours of videotape' that it will 'deceptively edit into short video clips to release for many months.'" [HuffPost]
EVERYONE RALLIES AROUND JOHN MCCAIN - Classy McCain, for his part, declined to note Trump's draft-dodging ways. Paige Lavender: "Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) responded to criticism of his time as a prisoner of war, saying business mogul Donald Trump owes some military families an apology. 'I think he may owe an apology to the families of those who have sacrificed in conflict and those who have undergone the prison experience in serving their country,' McCain said on MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' Monday. At an event in Iowa on Saturday, Trump criticized McCain's time in the military, questioning if his time as a prisoner of war made him a war hero. 'He's a war hero because he was captured,' Trump said during an appearance at the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa. 'I like people who weren't captured.'" [HuffPost]
JOURNEY INTO DONALD TRUMP'S BRAIN - Dayana Morales Gomez and Amber Ferguson: "Donald Trump isn’t apologizing for saying Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is 'not a war hero.' Instead, he’s taken to blasting the media for supposedly taking his message out of context. Trump called in to the 'Today' show this morning. 'If you saw what I said and if you saw the press conference afterwards, Savannah [Gurthie] and the media has done such a false number, as usual,' Trump told Matt Lauer." [HuffPost]
Ted Cruz is the only Republican 2016 candidate not crapping on Trump for crapping on McCain.
FORMER ABRAMOFF LOBBYIST PISSED AT THINGS HAS A NUANCED TAKE ON THE MATTER - "McCain is a war hero AND a loser," FALPAT writes from his halfway house. "You can be both ... Sorta like how FALPAT is handsome and a felon."
HILLARY CLINTON BRINGS PEOPLE TOGETHER - Jacob Kerr: "The same-sex couple featured in Hillary Clinton's presidential launch video married in Chicago on Sunday. In the video, which Clinton released in April to announce her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, Jared Milrad and Nathan Johnson appear together holding hands and announce their plans to get hitched." [HuffPost]
If Jeb thinks veterans deserve respect, why did he love the Swift Boat people so much, asks ThinkProgress.
GAWKER IS A MESS RIGHT NOW - Nick Visser: "Two of Gawker's top editors have resigned following a massive media storm that resulted in the outing of a Condé Nast executive and the subsequent removal of a story that received widespread condemnation." [HuffPost]
BILL NELSON CANCER-FREE - Good news from the Florida Democrat's office: "Our prayers have been answered,” Nelson’s wife Grace said in a statement. "The pathology report confirms Bill is completely free of cancer."
BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - There is a new website that asks the important question: Which of these do members of Congress would you prefer to have an uncomfortable sexual encounter with?
COMFORT FOOD
- Daniel Radcliffe raps Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady"
- Child tries to be King Kong
- The most epic dropped mic rescue
- Gorilla family accepts photographer as one of their own
TWITTERAMA
@jarry: should i: A. go outside again B. set myself on fire C. A & B are the same thing anyway
@igorbobic: all we need is for Trump to bite a shark and this summer will be ~complete~
@jamesrocchi:"I came in like Gawker.com Just closed my eyes, hit 'publish all.' Wanted to print news for y'all But it all got so Go-ossip-y"
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