George H. W. Bush says Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld mistreated his son -- also a couple of countries, but mostly his son. Questions have emerged as to whether Ben Carson was a violent, bloodthirsty youth, characteristics that are a must for an American president. And John McCain said if he looked like John Thune, he’d be president. If the rest of us looked like John Thune, we’d be picture frame models posing with children who aren’t ours. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Thursday, November 5th, 2015:
CNN UNABLE TO CONFIRM BEN CARSON'S PATHOLOGICAL VIOLENCE - Scott Glover and Maeve Reston: "In his 1990 autobiography, 'Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story,' Carson describes those acts as flowing from an uncontrollable 'pathological temper.' The violent episodes he has detailed in his book, in public statements and in interviews, include punching a classmate in the face with his hand wrapped around a lock, leaving a bloody three-inch gash in the boy's forehead; attempting to attack his own mother with a hammer following an argument over clothes; hurling a large rock at a boy, which broke the youth's glasses and smashed his nose; and, finally, thrusting a knife at the belly of his friend with such force that the blade snapped when it luckily struck a belt buckle covered by the boy's clothes. 'I was trying to kill somebody,' Carson said, describing the incident -- which he has said occurred at age 14 in ninth grade -- during a September forum at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. But nine friends, classmates and neighbors who grew up with Carson told CNN they have no memory of the anger or violence the candidate has described." [CNN]
Remember when everyone was mad at Young Mitt Romney because he cut a kid's hair? This election cycle sure is different.
REINCE PRIEBUS SPOILING HIS KIDS WITH CREDIT CARDS - Don't even get him started on John Cornyn's H&M shopping spree. Michael Barbaro and Steve Eder: "A decade after he began using a Republican Party credit card for personal purchases like paving stones at his home, Senator Marco Rubio on Wednesday pledged to disclose new spending records from that account as he sought to inoculate himself against what could be his biggest liability as a presidential candidate: how he manages his finances. The decision to release the records highlights the enduring potency of a controversy rooted in Mr. Rubio’s days as a young state representative in Florida that he and his aides thought had been put to rest with his 2010 election to the Senate. His use of the card for a family reunion, flights and groceries was a recurring issue in that campaign. But as his presidential campaign experiences a surge in the polls, Mr. Rubio’s rivals are rushing to resurrect the matter in an attempt to portray him as a careless manager of money, despite Mr. Rubio’s assurances that he paid for every personal purchase himself." [NYT]
ELIZABETH WARREN WOULD LIKE TO GIVE GRANDMA MONEY - Elizabeth Warren would like to send every senior citizen and disabled veteran in America a check for $580. The Democratic senator from Massachusetts said she thinks seniors got a raw deal when the Social Security Administration announced last month that, because prices haven't risen in the past year, Social Security benefits wouldn't be going up, either. "Social Security benefits are supposed to be indexed to inflation so that benefits rise when prices go up," says a press release announcing Warren's Seniors and Veterans Emergency Benefits Act. "But Congress’s formula is volatile and does a poor job of reflecting what older Americans actually spend." Arguing that the government's measurement of inflation is wrong, Warren's office said her bill would give seniors and veterans a one-time lump sum of about $580, or roughly 3.9 percent of their annual benefits. The percentage represents the average increase in compensation for CEOs last year, the release says. [HuffPost]
Does somebody keep forwarding you this newsletter? Get your own copy. It's free! Sign up here. Send tips/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to huffposthill@huffingtonpost.com. Follow us on Twitter - @HuffPostHill
AMERICA TREATED TO MORE OF JEB BUSH'S PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALING - Jeb can fix it. Jeb can also roleplay in family therapy sessions. Ed O'Keefe: "In a new television interview, Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush defends his brother George W. Bush from criticism by their father, George H.W. Bush, expressed in a new biography about the patriarch's own presidency. Appearing on MSNBC, Jeb Bush was asked whether he agreed with his father that former vice president Richard B. Cheney and former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld created problems for George W. Bush. 'My brother's a big boy,' Jeb Bush said in response. 'His administration was shaped by his thinking, his reaction to the attack on 9/11. I think my dad, like a lotta people that love George wanna try to create -- a different narrative perhaps ... just 'cause that's natural to do, right? But George would say ... 'This is under my watch, I was commander in chief. I was the leader. And I accept personal responsibility for what happened, both the good and the bad.' And I think that's the right way to look at it.'" [WaPo]
HOUSE PASSES SEXIEST OF ALL THE AUTHORIZATION BILLS - Shout out to fans of turnpikes. "The House approved a bill to spend up to $325 billion on transportation projects on Thursday after a weeklong vote-a-rama and an intense debate about federal gas taxes. The measure also includes a reauthorization of the controversial Export-Import Bank's charter, which has been held up in Congress since it expired in June. The extension, which was included in the Senate's highway bill and left unchanged by the House, reauthorizes the bank's expired charter until 2019. The House voted to approve the bill in a 363-64 vote. It calls for spending $261 billion on highways and $55 billion on transit over six years. The legislation authorizes highway funding for six years, but only if Congress can come up with a way to pay for the final three years. The measure must now be conferenced with a separate Senate measure on highways. The Senate bill also authorizes six years of funding, but only pays for three years. However, the Senate bill includes no trigger requiring that Congress find a way to pay for the final three years. Congress faces a Nov. 20 deadline to complete work on a conference report and prevent a gap in highway funding." [The Hill]
Like a Planned Parenthood rider, but for wealthy dudes who've had to bail their kids out of jail after getting arrested at the Chicken Box in Nantucket: "The House voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to preserve $17 billion in government payouts to banks, as part of a major highway funding bill. The GOP had initially pressed to include other bank-friendly measures in the highway bill, including a plan to hamstring the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and deregulate large banks. Those efforts were scrapped in favor of the more straightforward $17 billion payment…Over the summer, the Senate agreed to help pay for the highway bill by eliminating $17 billion in payments that the Federal Reserve makes to banks. But on Thursday, House Republicans reversed that move, voting on an amendment that would preserve the bank payouts. The money would be recouped by draining an account that the Fed uses to conduct monetary policy. That fund, known as the Fed's surplus capital account, is used to absorb temporary losses as the central bank buys and sells securities as part of its normal operations." [HuffPost's Zach Carter]
RYAN OPEN TO APPROPRIATIONS SUGGESTIONS - P90Xplain yourself, conference. Mike McAuliff: "New House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has a plan to avoid a damaging fight over government spending, but it was not clear Thursday that it extended beyond his own party. Ryan, who took over after former Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) was unable to keep the bumptious GOP conference in line, said Thursday he would open decisions on the forthcoming omnibus spending bill to every member of his caucus in the House. Congress must pass a spending bill by Dec. 11 to avoid a government shutdown. Democrats have insisted that they will not accept government funding that is loaded with unrelated riders, such as measures that would defund Planned Parenthood or attack Obamacare...While he refused to commit to blocking a Planned Parenthood measure that Democrats would see as a poison pill, he also laid out other ways his members might target the health care provider, such as through a new select committee looking into heavily edited sting videos, or through a separate piece of legislation that aims to defund the group." [HuffPost]
John McCain: “If I looked like Sen. Thune, I’d be president of the United States.”
BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Here's a kid who loves "Star Wars."
GOP STAFFERS NOT FEELING LEADERSHIP - It's hard to like people who make you rearrange your Thanksgiving plans time and again and cut your office budget. Shawn Zeller: "Forty-nine percent of the 163 House Republican aides who participated said they approved of House and Senate GOP leadership. And while their answers reflect GOP dissatisfaction with the rule of the departed Boehner, it’s also an indication of Republicans’ sour mood in general. The aides filled out the survey last week, when Ryan’s ascension was assured. The questionnaire was sent to 7,048 congressional staff members in CQ Roll Call’s online database. Aides were asked with which political party they are affiliated. The aides’ gloom extends to their expectations of Ryan’s first months in office. Just 50 percent predicted that Ryan would be granted the honeymoon period he’s requested. In laying out his case to Republicans, Ryan said in October that the GOP needed to 'unify' and 'move from being an opposition party to a proposition party.'" [Roll Call]
COMFORT FOOD
- Two guys in jetpacks flying beside a commercial airliner.
- Don't mess with this girl.
- The hard driving, take-no-prisoners world of late 1980s professional put put golf.
TWITTERAMA
@elisefoley: Things I love:
1) Christmas
2) Panic about the war on Christmas
@pourmecoffee: It's Guy Fawkes Day. Should be some good deals on mattresses out there.
@emmaroller: pet peeve: when adult humans use the word "veggies" when not speaking to a child.
Got something to add? Send tips/quotes/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to Eliot Nelson (eliot@huffingtonpost.com) or Arthur Delaney (arthur@huffingtonpost.com). Follow us on Twitter @HuffPostHill (twitter.com/HuffPostHill). Sign up here: http://huff.to/an2k2e