WHICH REPUBLICAN HOPEFULS HAVE OPPOSED A PATHWAY TO CITIZENSHIP?
|
Jeb Bush: “During an interview Wednesday with the New Hampshire Union Leader in Manchester, Mr. Bush was asked whether he supported a pathway to full citizenship. He replied, ‘No.’ ‘What do we do with the 11 million people here? I think the answer is earned legal status,’ he said.” [Washington Times, 7/8/15] |
Donald Trump: “Donald Trump would reverse President Obama’s executive orders on immigration and deport all undocumented immigrants from the U.S. as president, he said in an exclusive interview with NBC’s Chuck Todd. ‘We’re going to keep the families together, but they have to go,’ he said in the interview, which aired in full on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ Sunday. Pressed on what he’d do if the immigrants in question had nowhere to return to, Trump reiterated: ‘They have to go.’ ‘We will work with them. They have to go. Chuck, we either have a country, or we don’t have a country,’ he said.” [NBC News,8/16/15] |
Ben Carson: “CARSON: You also turn off the spigot that dispenses the goodies… DICKERSON: Right. CARSON: … so that people don’t have any incentive to come here. And then those who are here, you know, we have to recognize that we can’t just round them up, but we can give them an opportunity to register. I would give them a six-month period. And if they register and they have a pristine record, they haven’t been causing problems, I would give them an opportunity to become guest workers, not citizens, not voting people, not people who get goodies.” [CBS’s Face the Nation, 9/13/15] |
AND THE REST? THEY’RE ALL THE SAME.
When asked if he supported a path to citizenship, Marco Rubio avoided the question, responding, “It’s not a yes or no answer.”
John Kasich remarked that he was “not for giving anybody a path to citizenship here.”
]]>Republicans are Red. / Democrats are Blue. / CTR made some cookies / Inspired by you!
Happy Valentine’s Day! “Carpet Bomb ‘Em,” “Build a Wall,” “Ban All Muslims”—you invoked it, we wrote it (with frosting). Such sentiment! Nothing says “love” like heart-shaped cookies. Republican candidates, eat your words!
XOXO,
]]>
Hillary Clinton co-sponsored that bill, and was lead sponsor of the Paycheck Fairness Act in 2005 and 2007. Republicans on Capitol Hill, however – including several seeking their party’s presidential nomination – consistently vote against wage equality. Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio—we’re looking at you.
These guys aren’t the only ones to uphold the wage gap. As we celebrate this moment in history, let’s not forget that Republican candidates have a history of opposing women’s progress (and one—ahem, Jeb—had never heard of the Paycheck Fairness Act).
Donald Trump said equal pay legislation could lead to “an economy where it’s no longer free enterprise economy.” “CUOMO: You said I’m going to be great for women. I will do the most that can be done for women. Will you pass an equal pay? You know the statistics. You know, they don’t get paid what men do? TRUMP: I’m looking into that very strongly. I was asked that question yesterday. I’m looking into it very strongly. I will have a position on it in the not too distant future. One of the problems you have is you get to have an economy where it’s no longer free enterprise economy. You know, everybody gets the saying whether the — the concept of it is good. It’s a very complicated. The whole issue is a very complicated issue.” [CNN’s New Day, 8/11/15]
Ted Cruz voted against the Paycheck Fairness Act multiple times. According to the Congressional record, Ted Cruz cast two “nay” votes against the Paycheck Fairness Act, legislation that would strengthen protections for victims of wage discrimination on the basis of sex. [S. 2199, 4/1/14; Senate roll call vote 260, 9/10/14; Senate roll call vote 262, 9/15/14]
Marco Rubio said he voted against fair pay legislation because “all it really did is just help lawyers sue.” “The most recent data shows that women who work full time throughout the year make just 79 percent of what men doing the same make, and the gap shows up in virtually every job, every single industry, and at every education level. It’s even wider for women of color. Yet when asked by members of the work/family organization Make It Work why he has voted against the Paycheck Fairness Act multiple times, a bill that would ban salary secrecy and strengthen protections against unequal pay, Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio (FL) indicated that the gap shouldn’t even exist today. ‘It’s already illegal to pay women less than men,’ he responded. ‘If I pay a woman less than a man for the same job, it’s illegal now. You can be sued now.’ Though he offered up lawsuits as the remedy for unequal pay, Rubio is against the Paycheck Fairness Act because it would result in more lawsuits. ‘The Paycheck [Fairness] Act, all it did was allow trial lawyers to sue,’ he said. ‘The reason I voted against it is because…all it really did is just help lawyers sue.’” [Think Progress, 11/30/15]
Marco Rubio repeatedly voted against equal pay legislation, calling it “a welfare plan for trial lawyers.” “Republicans, seeking to mitigate the fallout after recent debates over women’s health have cast them in a harsh light among female voters, were careful not to be seen as rooting against the cause of equal pay. Instead, they decried the bill as a political stunt. ‘It’s pure election-year politics,’ said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL). ‘This bill reads more to me like some sort of a welfare plan for trial lawyers.’” [Talking Points Memo, 6/5/12; Senate roll call vote 115, 6/5/12; Senate roll call vote 103, 4/9/14; Senate roll call vote 260, 9/10/14; Senate roll call vote 262, 9/15/14]
Marco Rubio claimed the push for fair pay legislation was “about scoring political points.” In an official press release, Rubio said, “Once again, Senate Democrats have wasted the American people’s time by holding yet another show vote that proves any sense of urgency they have is about scoring political points instead of solving the problems that threaten America’s future.” [Official Marco Rubio Press Release, 6/5/12]
Jeb Bush: “What’s the Paycheck Fairness Act?” “‘What’s the Paycheck Fairness Act?’ Bush asked, in an exchange captured by the liberal opposition research outfit American Bridge. Once the man he was speaking with defined it as a bill that would ensure that women get ‘equal pay for equal work,’ Bush took issue with his phrasing. ‘Equal pay for the same work, not for equal work — I think that’s the problem with it. I think there’s a definition issue,’ he said, before declining to say whether or not he thought Land should support the legislation.” [The Hill, 10/15/14]
Jeb Bush suggested that existing wage laws were sufficient to ensure equal pay. “‘Wages should be equal, and there are laws to make it so, and they should be enforced,’ Bush said in response to a subsequent question from one female employee, implying he thought that existing statutes were effective at making it so. The employee cited the oft-used statistic that by some measures women are paid 79 percent of what men make for the same work. Bush interrupted her to ask whether that was the case at the startup.” [TIME, 7/16/15]
Chris Christie vetoed “two sensible reforms that would help prevent women from getting cheated in their paychecks.” “Gov. Chris Christie says he’s committed to pay equity for women. So why, for the second time, has he killed two sensible reforms that would help prevent women from getting cheated in their paychecks? […] One bill, called the Wage Transparency Act, Christie outright vetoed. It would have required state contractors to make their gender, race and wage information publicly available, as federal contractors will soon have to. Christie argues the state’s prevailing wage law already requires wage reporting. But it doesn’t cover all public contractors. And we have yet to see any evidence that doing so would be too ‘costly and burdensome’ for business, as Christie claims. Weinberg’s other bill, the Unfair Wage Recovery Act, Christie’s conditional veto has rendered toothless. Under this reform, a woman who suddenly discovers she is being paid less than male co-workers would have had the opportunity to seek all the back pay she is owed, without hitting an arbitrary statute of limitations.” [Star-Ledger, 8/14/14]
Rand Paul voted against the Paycheck Fairness Act multiple times and compared equal pay legislation to the Soviet Politburo. “Paul, a staunch libertarian, said passing a law that would have given judges more leeway to determine if a woman had been paid unfairly would be a step toward reviving the Soviet Union’s notorious central governing body here. The United States’ free market, he argued, works much better at setting wages at the appropriate level. ‘Three hundred million people get to vote everyday on what you should be paid or what the price of goods are,’ Paul told reporters on Capitol Hill. ‘In the Soviet Union, the Politburo decided the price of bread, and they either had no bread or too much bread. So setting prices or wages by the government is always a bad idea.’” [Huffington Post, 6/5/12; Senate roll call vote 115, 6/5/12; Senate roll call vote 103, 4/9/14; Senate roll call vote 260, 9/10/14; Senate roll call vote 262, 9/15/14]
Rand Paul: “I think some of the victimology and all of this other stuff is trumped up.” “Sen. Rand Paul said Sunday that Democrats are failing in their attempts to frame the GOP as a party that wages a war against women. ‘The whole thing of the ‘war on women,’ I sort of laughingly say, ‘Yeah, there might have been – but the women are winning it,’’ the Republican senator from Kentucky said on CNN’s ‘State of the Union.’ He said women have made great strides and, as an example, now make up more than half the students at medical and law schools. […] ‘And I think some of the victimology and all of this other stuff is trumped up. We don’t get to any good policy by playing some sort of charade that somehow one party doesn’t care about women or one party is not in favor of women advancing, or other people advancing.’” [CNN, 1/26/14]
John Kasich said the gender wage gap was “based on experience” and “tied up in skills.” “In Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC) grilled presidential candidate John Kasich about his views on immigration, gun control, the wars in the Middle East, and economic inequality — particularly between men and women. USHCC President Javier Palomarez challenged the Ohio governor on the fact that women in his state working full time are getting paid roughly 78 percent of what men make — according to figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau. For Latina women across the U.S., the gap is even greater: just 54 percent of what men made in 2014. Palomarez pointed out that Kasich has daughters of his own, and asked how he explains this disparity to them. ‘Well, a lot of it is based on experience,’ Kasich replied. ‘A lot of different factors go into it. It’s all tied up in skills. Do you not have the skills to be able to compete?’” [Think Progress,10/7/15]
Women working in Gov. John Kasich’s office were paid an average of $9.81 per hour less than men. “A newspaper investigation has found the average pay gap between men and women in the offices of four of Ohio’s five elected statewide officials has grown to as much as almost $10 an hour, as it’s shrunk to under a dollar across the rest of state government. Women working in Republican Gov. John Kasich’s office earn $9.81-an-hour less, on average, than men, the Dayton Daily News analysis published Sunday showed. That’s the highest gender pay gap among statewide officeholders, according to the newspaper’s study of Ohio Department of Administrative Services data. The gender gap compares to $3.99-an-hour under former Gov. Ted Strickland.” [Associated Press, 4/21/14]
Carly Fiorina called equal pay legislation “tokens” and “gestures.” “Fiorina: I think in some cases we just have to take on the facts. There are plenty of laws in place today that a woman can look to if she’s truly discriminated against at work, where she’s actually earning less for the same job as her male counterpart. So the Paycheck Fairness Act, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act — these are tokens. They’re gestures. They don’t truly help women advance. We can’t avoid the factual arguments, because they’re on our side. [CNN, 6/30/14]
Rick Santorum opposed the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, calling it “a trial lawyer’s bill.” “As polls show the tightening of a gender gap and the chase by both Romney and Obama for an elusive ‘women’s vote’ that everyone agrees is far from monolithic, Santorum dismissed all the fuss over Romney’s ‘binders full of women’ and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, touted by the president Tuesday and since as the first piece of legislation he signed. ‘It’s very interesting that what Barack Obama pointed to was a trial lawyer’s bill,’ Santorum told me after his brief speech. ‘The Lilly Ledbetter bill basically gives women a longer period of time to file a lawsuit,’ he said. ‘This was advocated by the trial lawyers so they could make more money. This had nothing to do with changing the law with respect to pay for women or rights for women. It simply gave lawyers a longer time to sue. This is the kind of small ball this president is playing. He’s not talking about major issues that can improve the employment picture for women or for people in this country. He’s talking about taking care of his friends in the trial bar.’” [Washington Post, 10/18/12]
]]>Thursday, January 28, 2016
Washington, DC — In response to tonight’s Republican debate in Iowa, Correct The Record President Brad Woodhouse released the following statement.
“FOX News, the Republican Party and the Mini-Me collection of Republican candidates who participated in tonight’s GOP debate in Iowa learned the hard way what it’s like to live in the age of Trump,” said Correct the Record President Brad Woodhouse. “While Trump was across town being carried live by every other network, and while he, not the other GOP candidates, dominated social media, the rest of the Republican field desperately and hopelessly failed to catch up to him.
“It was Donald Trump who set the agenda for a debate that he didn’t even bother to show up for. From talk of zero ‘amnesty’ to snatching health care away from millions of Americans, to spewing their hatred of Hillary Clinton, the GOP debate sounded like a greatest hit parade from one of Trump’s own rallies.
“Long ago this crowd of GOP presidential wannabes made the decision that if you can’t beat him, join him – and in the Age of Trump that means, above all else, hate-filled rhetoric, bellicose fear-mongering and an aversion to any semblance of facts. But for all their efforts tonight, from Cruz to Rubio, Bush and the rest – once again, they got Trumped.”
Correct The Record is a strategic research and rapid response team designed to defend Hillary Clinton from baseless attacks.
Correct The Record ∙ http://correct2016.wpengine.com/∙ Facebook ∙ @CorrectRecord
###
]]>Bumped from the main stage are Paul and Fiorina. Left are the not-so-magnificent seven, from Trump to Rubio to Cruz to…we’ve lost track: in the end, each and every one of these Republicans plies in the same extreme policies and backwards proposals.
You’ll hear shouts and insults and the usual attacks on minorities, women, and immigrants. You’ll see navy-blue suits and faux-angry gestures. But you won’t get a hint of progress—just the same tired spectacle we’ve come to expect.
Bottom line: These Republican hopefuls are all identical – out of touch and too extreme.
WHICH REPUBLICAN HOPEFULS HAVE OPPOSED A PATHWAY TO CITZENSHIP?
| Jeb Bush:
“During an interview Wednesday with the New Hampshire Union Leader in Manchester, Mr. Bush was asked whether he supported a pathway to full citizenship. He replied, ‘No.’ ‘What do we do with the 11 million people here? I think the answer is earned legal status,’ he said.” [Washington Times, 7/8/15]
|
Donald Trump:
“Donald Trump would reverse President Obama’s executive orders on immigration and deport all undocumented immigrants from the U.S. as president, he said in an exclusive interview with NBC’s Chuck Todd. ‘We’re going to keep the families together, but they have to go,’ he said in the interview, which aired in full on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ Sunday. Pressed on what he’d do if the immigrants in question had nowhere to return to, Trump reiterated: ‘They have to go.’ ‘We will work with them. They have to go. Chuck, we either have a country, or we don’t have a country,’ he said.” [NBC News, 8/16/15]
|
Ben Carson:
“CARSON: You also turn off the spigot that dispenses the goodies… DICKERSON: Right. CARSON: … so that people don’t have any incentive to come here. And then those who are here, you know, we have to recognize that we can’t just round them up, but we can give them an opportunity to register. I would give them a six-month period. And if they register and they have a pristine record, they haven’t been causing problems, I would give them an opportunity to become guest workers, not citizens, not voting people, not people who get goodies.” [CBS’s Face the Nation, 9/13/15] |
AND THE REST? THEY’RE ALL THE SAME.
Ted Cruz said that “a path to citizenship for those who are here illegally is profoundly unfair.”
Carly Fiorina said, “My own view is, if you have come here illegally and stayed here illegally, that you don’t get a path to citizenship.” [MSNBC’s Morning Joe, 6/15/15]
Chris Christie stated that providing a pathway to citizenship was “an extreme way to go.”
John Kasich: Kasich remarked that he was “not for giving anybody a path to citizenship here.”
| Ben Carson:
“In response to a question by Sean Hannity about his views on gay marriage, Ben Carson said, ‘Well, my thoughts are that marriage is between a man and a woman. It’s a well-established, fundamental pillar of society and no group, be they gays, be they NAMBLA, be they people who believe in bestiality. It doesn’t matter what they are. They don’t get to change the definition.’” [Slate, 3/28/13]
|
Marco Rubio:
“It doesn’t exist. There is no federal constitutional right to same sex marriage. There isn’t such a right. You have to have a ridiculous and absurd reading of the U.S. constitution to reach the conclusion that people have a right to marry someone of the same sex.” [The Brody File, 4/26/15]
|
Ted Cruz:
“Cruz warned of the dangers of gay marriage a month after the Supreme Court decision in a July 2013 interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network. ‘If you look at other nations that have gone down the road towards gay marriage, that’s the next step where it gets enforced,’ he said. ‘It gets enforced against Christian pastors who decline to perform gay marriages, who speak out and preach biblical truths on marriage.’” [Huffington Post, 2/3/14]
|
AND THE REST? THEY’RE ALL THE SAME.
Donald Trump: On CNN’s State of the Union in this past summer, Trump stated he was for “traditional marriage.”
Jeb Bush: In a campaign press release, Bush wrote, “Guided by my faith, I believe in traditional marriage.”
Chris Christie: Christie criticized the Supreme Court ruling in favor of marriage equality.
John Kasich: Kasich opposed both same-sex marriage and civil unions.
| Donald Trump:
“CUOMO: You said I’m going to be great for women. I will do the most that can be done for women. Will you pass an equal pay? You know the statistics. You know, they don’t get paid what men do? TRUMP: I’m looking into that very strongly. I was asked that question yesterday. I’m looking into it very strongly. I will have a position on it in the not too distant future. One of the problems you have is you get to have an economy where it’s no longer free enterprise economy. You know, everybody gets the saying whether the — the concept of it is good. It’s a very complicated. The whole issue is a very complicated issue.” [CNN’s New Day, 8/11/15]
|
Jeb Bush:
“‘What’s the Paycheck Fairness Act?’ Bush asked, in an exchange captured by the liberal opposition research outfit American Bridge. Once the man he was speaking with defined it as a bill that would ensure that women get ‘equal pay for equal work,’ Bush took issue with his phrasing. ‘Equal pay for the same work, not for equal work — I think that’s the problem with it. I think there’s a definition issue,’ he said, before declining to say whether or not he thought Land should support the legislation.” [The Hill,10/15/14] |
John Kasich:
When challenged on the income gap in his home state: “’Well, a lot of it is based on experience,’ Kasich replied. ‘A lot of different factors go into it. It’s all tied up in skills. Do you not have the skills to be able to compete?’” [Think Progress, 10/7/15] |
AND THE REST? THEY’RE ALL THE SAME.
Ted Cruz: Cruz voted against the Paycheck Fairness Act multiple times. [S. 2199, 4/1/14; Senate roll call vote 260, 9/10/14; Senate roll call vote 262, 9/15/14]
Marco Rubio: Rubio said he voted against fair pay legislation because “all it really did is just help lawyers sue.”
Chris Christie: Christie vetoed “two sensible reforms that would help prevent women from getting cheated in their paychecks.”
| Donald Trump:
“I do not support expanding background checks. The current background checks do not work. They make it more difficult for law abiding citizens to acquire firearms while consistently failing to stop criminals from getting guns. We should re-examine our policy to make sure that these prohibitions do not impede law abiding citizens from exercising their Second Amendment rights.” [Ammoland, 7/7/15]
|
Jeb Bush:
“For a minute, the former Florida governor almost sounded like he supported expanding background checks to more gun purchases, agreeing with Colbert that the National Rifle Association’s opposition to mental health checks can be defeated. But then he continued, proving how little he understands about preventing gunviolence in the United States. ‘Why would you want to impose national gun laws on top of every circumstance of this country?’ he asked. When Colbert pointed out that the Second Amendment is applied nationally, so gun control should also be a national issue, Bush disagreed, saying that Florida is different from New York or Vermont.” [Think Progress, 9/9/15]
|
Ben Carson
“In an appearance on Wednesday at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., Dr. Ben Carson, author of the new book ‘One Nation: What We Can All Do to Save America’s Future’ discussed his views on the Second Amendment of the Constitution. Carson stated that in high-crime areas, ‘We should be able to engage in conversations about [the Second Amendment],’ and the discussion should center around ‘what can we agree on that doesn’t violate the Second Amendment?’ Carson did say that ‘the Second Amendment is the essential part of our Constitution,’ and clarified afterwards that expanded background checks and an assault weapons ban would be off the table in any discussions on the Second Amendment.” [Breitbart, 5/28/14]
|
AND THE REST? THEY’RE ALL THE SAME.
Ted Cruz opposed universal background checks for gun buyers.
Marco Rubio opposed bipartisan legislation to require background checks on gun purchases.
Rick Santorum opposed universal background checks for gun purchases.
John Kasich said of gun background checks: “I don’t think more laws are going to fix this.”
| Donald Trump:
“Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump wants to bar all Muslims from entering the United States. In a statement from his campaign, Trump called for a ‘total and complete shutdown’ of Muslims entering the United States until elected leaders can ‘figure out what is going on.’ When asked by The Hill whether that would include Muslim-American citizens currently abroad, Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks replied over email: ‘Mr. Trump says, ‘everyone.’’” [The Hill, 12/7/15]
|
Ted Cruz:
“Sen. Ted Cruz Sunday continued to call for Muslim refugees from Syria to be barred from entering the United States but opening the borders to displaced Christians, arguing there is not a ‘meaningful risk’ that Christians will commit terrorist acts. ‘There is no meaningful risk of Christians committing acts of terror. If there were a group of radical Christians pledging to murder anyone who had a different religious view than they, we would have a different national security situation,’ Cruz (R-Tex.) told reporters in a middle school gym here.” [Washington Post, 11/15/15]
|
Ben Carson:
“Ben Carson says the United States should not elect a Muslim president. ‘I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation. I absolutely would not agree with that,’ the retired neurosurgeon and Republican presidential candidate said Sunday on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press.’” [CNN,9/21/15]
|
AND THE REST? THEY’RE ALL THE SAME.
Marco Rubio said that Muslims were like “Germans who may have been members of the Nazi party, but weren’t violent themselves.” [ABC’s This Week, 11/15/15]
Jeb Bush said he supported making Syrian refugees “prove” they’re Christian as part of the vetting process.
Mike Huckabee said that “it’s time to wake up and smell the falafel” and close our borders to Syrian refugees.
Rand Paul supported reinstating a failed racial profiling program that targeted Muslims entering the country.
]]>
Donald Trump: “I’m a smart person.” “Trump disagreed with his critics. ‘I’m the worst thing that ever happened to ISIS,’ he declared Tuesday night during an interview with Barbara Walters. ‘I’m a smart person,’ said Trump. ‘I know how to run things. I know how to make America great again.’” [New York Daily News, 12/9/15]
Donald Trump on pundits: “I’m much smarter than them. I think I have a much higher IQ.” “Donald Trump claims he has a higher IQ than conservative pundits George Will and Karl Rove, both of whom he slammed Monday during a campaign rally in Columbus, Ohio. ‘I watch these pundits on television and, you know, they call them intellectuals. They’re not intellectuals,’ Trump told thousands of supporters in the swing state. ‘I’m much smarter than them. I think I have a much higher IQ. I think I went to a better college — better everything,’ proclaimed the University of Pennsylvania graduate, adding that it’s ‘amazing’ the way pundits treat their viewers.” [Washington Examiner, 11/23/15]
Donald Trump on Ted Cruz: “We both have the highest of IQs.” “Trump says he doesn’t question Cruz’s motivations. ‘We could say the same thing on the opposite, you know, maybe that’s why I’m reaching out to him. But it’s not. I just respect him, we have a mutual respect, we get along well. We both have the highest of IQs,’ he said.” [Politico, 9/4/15]
Donald Trump: “If I were a liberal Democrat people would say I’m a super genius of all time — the super genius of all time.” TRUMP: “Look if I were a liberal Democrat people would say I’m a super genius of all time — the super genius of all time. If you`re a conservative Republican, you have to fight for your life. It`s really an amazing thing.” [NBC’s Meet the Press, 8/16/15]
Donald Trump: “I went to the hardest school to get into, the best school in the world, I guess you could say, the Wharton School of Finance, it’s like super genius stuff.” “Hey, look, I went to the hardest school to get into, the best school in the world, I guess you could say, the Wharton School of Finance, it’s like super genius stuff. I came, out I built a tremendous company, I had tremendous success. ‘The Art of the Deal,’ The Apprentice, everything.” [CNN, 8/11/15]
Donald Trump: “I’m, like, a really smart person.” “The hour-long speech was vintage Trump. An unscripted, rambling mix of jokes, boasts, provocations, policy prescriptions to ‘make America great again’ and tirades against illegal immigrants, Mexico’s government, Democrats, the media, terrorists and especially fellow Republicans. […] ‘I went to the Wharton School of Business,’ he noted several times. ‘I’m, like, a really smart person.’” [Guardian, 7/12/15]
Donald Trump on the difference between him and George W. Bush: “Bush didn’t have the IQ.” TRUMP: “Based on – no, no, no. Based on — a feel. Okay? You know, deals are people. I make a lot of – ” O’REILLY: “You sound like George W. Bush. He, he looked into his soul and said he was a good guy. Come on.” TRUMP: “Bush, Bush didn’t have the IQ.” [Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor, 6/16/15]
Donald Trump: “Sorry losers and haters, but my I.Q. is one of the highest – and you all know it!” “Sorry losers and haters, but my I.Q. is one of the highest -and you all know it! Please don’t feel so stupid or insecure, it’s not your fault” [@realDonaldTrump, 5/8/13, 9:37 p.m. ET]
Ted Cruz: “I like Donald Trump.” “Senator Ted Cruz said Tuesday he disagrees with Donald Trump on temporarily banning Muslims from entering the U.S., but he refused to repudiate his Republican presidential rival. ‘I disagree with that proposal,’ Cruz said. ‘I like Donald Trump.’ […] Cruz said he’d still support Trump or any other nominee. ‘I will absolutely support the Republican nominee and I hope and intend for that nominee to be me,’ he said.” [Bloomberg,12/8/15]
Ted Cruz: “I like Donald. He’s a friend of mine.” “While Trump stole some of the spotlight from Cruz, the Texas senator admitted the businessman’s star power was part of the appeal. ‘The reason’s not complicated,’ Cruz told reporters Thursday outside a tea party rally. ‘No. 1: I like Donald. He’s a friend of mine. But when Donald arrives at an event, he brings an army of TV reporters. And Donald’s being there … means the mainstream media will cover the event.’” [CNN, 9/9/15]
Ted Cruz: “When it comes to Donald Trump, I like Donald Trump.” “‘I’m not interested in Republican on Republican violence,’ he told host Chuck Todd, adding that ‘bold … brash’ Trump ‘has a colorful way of speaking.’ The Texas senator’s comments were similar to his defense of Trump during ‘Fox & Friends’ on Tuesday. ‘When it comes to Donald Trump, I like Donald Trump,’ Cruz said on the show. ‘I think he’s terrific.’” [Politico, 7/3/15]
Ted Cruz: “I’m a big fan of Donald Trump’s.” “Ted Cruz on Friday disavowed Donald Trump’s support for requiring American Muslims register as such, a rare public break with the current GOP frontrunner. ‘I’m a big fan of Donald Trump’s but I’m not a fan of government registries of American citizens,’ he told reporters of a plan Trump said he backed a day earlier. ‘The First Amendment protects religious liberty, I’ve spent the past several decades defending religious liberty.’” [Politico, 11/20/15]
Ted Cruz said that Donald Trump is “terrific” and that “he speaks the truth.” “Trump said he does, however, respect one contender for his stance on immigration. ‘I respect Ted Cruz for the view he’s got. He was really out there and strong on it. I shouldn’t say this because, I assume, he’s an opponent, but the fact is he was very brave in coming out,’ Trump said. Earlier in the week, the Texas Republican senator had defended Trump in his feud with NBC over the immigration remarks, calling him ‘terrific’ and saying ‘he speaks the truth.’” [CNN, 7/8/15]
Marco Rubio had an absentee rate that was “four times the Senate average” over his first four years in office. “Of the lawmakers currently serving in the U.S. Senate, Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is the least likely to show up for work. He’s been in office for four years, and of 1,198 opportunities to vote, he has declined to do so 99 times. That’s an absentee rate of 8.2 percent—four times the Senate average of 2.01 percent.” [Vocativ, 2/17/15]
Marco Rubio missed fully half of the committee hearings and meetings of the Senate Foreign Relations committee in 2014. “He began missing committee work, even on the subject he most identified with. In 2014, Rubio missed 34 of 68 committee hearings and meetings in the Foreign Relations committee, according to his office’s tally.” [Washington Post, 10/25/15]
Marco Rubio skipped a closed-door Senate Foreign Relations committee briefing on the ISIS attacks in Paris so that he could attend a fundraiser. “At 10 a.m. Wednesday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee went behind closed doors for a briefing titled, ‘The Aftermath of Paris: America’s Role.’ But Sen. Marco Rubio was not there. The Florida Republican is on his way to California for fundraising. The absence illustrates how Rubio is not just missing floor votes but also key hearings on national security and foreign policy — issues he has presented as chief credentials of his presidential campaign. He’s also skipping a Paris briefing this afternoon for all senators.” [Tampa Bay Times, 11/18/15]
Marco Rubio skipped a $310 million dollar vote in the Florida House of Representatives to attend a World Series game. “Hoping for a statewide economic revolution and a spate of high-wage jobs, the Florida Legislature lateThursday approved the offer of a whopping $310 million in incentives to bring a branch of a world-renowned biotech institute to Palm Beach County. […] Several South Florida legislators were absent for the vote, having flown out of Tallahassee on Thursday afternoon to catch Game 5 of the World Series matchup between the Florida Marlins and New York Yankees. Among them: House Majority Leader Marco Rubio, a Miami Republican, who was invited to join the Marlins at their batting practice.” [Sun-Sentinel, 10/24/03]
Marco Rubio left his city commission job “less than halfway through his term.” “Rubio, now a 44-year-old U.S. senator, declined through a spokeswoman to be interviewed about his city commission experience. In his 307-page memoir, he devotes only one paragraph to his West Miami work and calls it ‘mostly uncontroversial.’ He left the job less than halfway through his term.” [Washington Post, 7/30/15]
Ben Carson’s “narrative of spiritual redemption” after committing “acts of violence as an angry young man” were “unrecognizable” to “friends, classmates and neighbors who grew up with Carson.” “At the core of his narrative of spiritual redemption are his acts of violence as an angry young man — stabbing, rock throwing, brick hurling and baseball bat beating — that preceded Carson’s sudden transformation into the composed figure who stands before voters today. […] 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. That person is unrecognizable to those whom CNN interviewed, who knew him during those formative years. All of the people interviewed expressed surprise about the incidents Carson has described. No one challenged the stories directly. Some of those interviewed expressed skepticism, but noted that they could not know what had happened behind closed doors.” [CNN, 11/7/15]
Ben Carson “attempted to recast his previous claims of a full scholarship” to the military academy at West Point “despite numerous public and written statements to the contrary over the last few decades.” “Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson on Friday conceded that he never applied nor was granted admission to West Point and attempted to recast his previous claims of a full scholarship to the military academy — despite numerous public and written statements to the contrary over the last few decades.” [Politico, 11/6/15]
Ben Carson’s claim that he was held up by a gunman in a Popeye’s restaurant was not corroborated by police reports. “Last month, Mr. Carson said in a radio interview that, as a young doctor, he had a gun stuck in his ribs at a Popeye’s restaurant in Baltimore near Johns Hopkins University. ‘A guy comes in and puts a gun in my ribs. And I just said, ‘I believe that you want the guy behind the counter,’’ Mr. Carson said. ‘He said, “Oh, okay.”‘ The Baltimore Police Department later said it couldn’t find a report matching the incident Mr. Carson described.” [Wall Street Journal, 11/6/15]
Ben Carson’s claim that he protected a few white students during rioting over the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. was not corroborated by his former classmates. “The day after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed in 1968, Ben Carson’s black classmates unleashed their anger and grief on white students who were a minority at Detroit’s Southwestern High. Mr. Carson, then a junior with a key to a biology lab where he worked part time, told The Wall Street Journal last month that he protected a few white students from the attacks by hiding them there. It is a dramatic account of courage and kindness, and it couldn’t be confirmed in interviews with a half-dozen of Mr. Carson’s classmates and his high school physics teacher. The students all remembered the riot. None recalled hearing about white students hiding in the biology lab, and Mr. Carson couldn’t remember any names of those he sheltered.” [Wall Street Journal, 11/6/15]
Jeb Bush: “People need to work longer hours.” “Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush said Wednesday that in order to grow the economy ‘people should work longer hours’ — a comment that the Bush campaign argues was a reference to underemployed part-time workers but which Democrats are already using to attack him. During an interview that was live-streamed on the app Periscope, Bush told New Hampshire’s The Union Leader that to grow the economy, ‘people should work longer hours.’ He was answering a question about his plans for tax reform and responded: ‘My aspiration for the country and I believe we can achieve it, is 4 percent growth as far as the eye can see. Which means we have to be a lot more productive, workforce participation has to rise from its all-time modern lows. It means that people need to work longer hours’ and, through their productivity, gain more income for their families. That’s the only way we’re going to get out of this rut that we’re in.’” [ABC News, 7/8/15]
Jeb Bush on Medicare: “We need to figure out a way to phase out this program.” “Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush said Wednesday that we ought to phase out Medicare, the federal program that provides health insurance to Americans once they’re 65. ‘We need to make sure we fulfill the commitment to people that have already received the benefits, that are receiving the benefits,’ Bush said. ‘But we need to figure out a way to phase out this program for others and move to a new system that allows them to have something, because they’re not going to have anything.’” [Huffington Post, 7/23/15]
Jeb Bush: “I’m not sure we need half a billion dollars for women’s health issues.” “Bush said the argument against that effort would be that it’s a ‘war on women.’ ‘You could take dollar for dollar–although I’m not sure we need half a billion dollars for women’s health issues–but if you took dollar for dollar, there are many extraordinarily fine community health organizations that exist to provide quality care for women on a wide variety of health issues,’ he said.” [The Hill, 8/4/15]
Jeb Bush on the Iraq invasion: “Taking out Saddam Hussein turned out to be a pretty good deal.” “Jeb Bush on Thursday said ‘taking out Saddam Hussein turned out to be a pretty good deal’ but then said he didn’t want to get into hypotheticals about what would’ve happened had the U.S. (under his brother) not invaded in 2003. ‘Then that’s back to the future and you could make a movie,’ Bush said at a national security forum hosted by Politico. The Republican presidential candidate said the 2007 ‘surge’ left Iraq in a ‘fragile but secure’ state, but that President Obama’s withdrawal of U.S. forces paved the way for the rise of ISIS.” [Daily Beast, 8/13/15]
Jeb Bush: “Pregnant women are coming in to have babies simply because they can do it, then there ought to be greater enforcement… so that you don’t have these, you know, ‘anchor babies’.” “Jeb Bush doesn’t want birthright citizenship to go away, but he is calling for stronger enforcement for people who abuse it. ‘If there’s abuse, if people are bringing — pregnant women are coming in to have babies simply because they can do it, then there ought to be greater enforcement,’ Bush said on Bill Bennett’s conservative radio show, ‘Morning in America’ Wednesday. ‘That’s [the] legitimate side of this. Better enforcement so that you don’t have these, you know, ‘anchor babies’, as they’re described, coming into the country.’ ‘Anchor babies’ is a derogatory term used to describe children who are born in the United States to undocumented parents.” [Politico, 8/19/15]
Jeb Bush, after the gun massacre at an Oregon community college: “Stuff happens.” “A day after a massacre on a U.S. college campus, Jeb Bush said ‘stuff happens’ but that it should not lead to tighter gun restrictions.” [Politico,10/2/15]
Carly Fiorina said she was “a chief executive who’s had to make tough calls to save jobs and to grow jobs.” “FIORINA: Can I just — could I just say, as a chief executive who’s had to make tough calls to save jobs and to grow jobs, I think what’s interesting about Dodd-Frank is it’s a great example of how socialism starts.” [Fox Business Republican presidential debate, 11/10/15]
Carly Fiorina said that under her tenure at HP, “we doubled the size of the company, we quadrupled its topline growth rate, we quadrupled its cash flow, we tripled its rate of innovation.” FIORINA: “I led Hewlett Packard through a very difficult time, the worst technology recession in 25 years. The NASDAQ stock index fell 80 percent. It took 15 years for the stock index to recover. We had very strong competitors who literally went out of business and lost all of their jobs in the process. Despite those difficult times, we doubled the size of the company, we quadrupled its topline growth rate, we quadrupled its cash flow, we tripled its rate of innovation.” [CNN Republican presidential debate, 9/16/15]
Huffington Post blog HEADLINE: “Rand Paul Now Just An Itinerant Prop Comic, Apparently” [Huffington Post, 9/16/15]
Rand Paul attempted to fundraise off of a failed “filibuster” that only lasted about 18 minutes. “Sen. Rand Paul staged what he said was a filibuster in an attempt to delay the bipartisan budget deal -– but he only spoke on the Senate floor for about 18 minutes Thursday. […] But Paul’s camp, as it has with his past marathon speeches, urged supporters to donate money to encourage him as he ‘filibustered.’” [ABC News, 10/29/15]
Rand Paul on whether he’s running for president: “I wouldn’t be doing this dumbass live streaming if I weren’t.” “The Kentucky senator live-streamed an entire day on the campaign trail on Tuesday, but things went a little awry when Paul answered questions that people had Googled about him. Paul did not seem too amused when he answered those who used a Google search to ask whether he was still running for president. ‘I don’t know. I wouldn’t be doing this dumbass live streaming if I weren’t. So yes, I still am running for president, get over it.’ ‘This is live, we can’t edit this right?’ Paul continued.” [Huffington Post, 10/14/15]
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Donald Trump got it wrong on illegal immigration. Ted Cruz repeatedly misled on Syria. Carly Fiorina missed the mark on national security. Chris Christie forgot to check the obituaries. Jeb Bush continued to stumble speaking on Iraq (surprised?). That’s just a few examples!
Though the Republican candidates didn’t mention jobs or the middle class, there’s one industry we know would be safe under a GOP president: Fact checkers. They’ll have nothing to worry about.
]]>Tuesday, December 15, 2015
Washington, DC – Correct The Record delivered Jeb Bush an individualized Donald Trump hat along with a letter in advance of the upcoming presidential debate. The must-have fashion accessory of the GOP, as worn by Trump himself, has been personalized with Jeb’s discriminatory proposal to keep tabs on Muslims in the United States and block those who want to come here.
While Trump’s rhetoric may be more bombastic and his proposals more aggressive, Jeb and other GOP presidential contenders would make it harder for Muslims to come to the U.S. The hateful proposals of the rest of the Republican presidential field are just as outrageous as Trump’s.
“Muslim-bashing Donald Trump thinks he can ‘Make America Great Again’ with policies that actually divide us, flout basic human rights, and aid terrorists’ recruitment efforts, and Jeb Bush is no different,” said Daniel Wessel of Correct The Record. “Jeb said he supports making Syrian refugees ‘prove’ they’re Christian as part of the vetting process, and he admitted he would ‘absolutely’ support Donald Trump as the Republican nominee, despite the outcry following his proposed discriminatory ban on Muslims visiting the United States. We hope this personalized hat will help Jeb Bush show America his true colors before the debate. Jeb acts like Trump; now he can look like him too.”
Jeb 2016, Inc.
PO Box 440641
Miami, FL 33144
Dear Mr. Bush,
Your friends at Correct The Record have sent you a gift – a signature Donald Trump hat, the type of hat worn by Trump himself, individualized with your own hateful proposal to keep tabs on Muslims in the United States and block those who want to come here.
You, sir, have said you support making Syrian refugees “prove” they’re Christian as part of the vetting process. You admitted you would “absolutely” support Donald Trump as the Republican nominee, despite the outcry following his proposed discriminatory ban on Muslims visiting the United States.
Your policies divide us, flout basic human rights, and inevitably aid terrorists’ recruitment efforts. They are irresponsible, discriminatory, and contrary to America’s defining values.
Though Donald Trump’s Muslim-bashing rants are the loudest, you’re equally responsible for the creation of a deeply disturbing atmosphere in America. You support Trump’s fear-mongering and you imitate his efforts with hateful proposals of your own. We hope this hat will help you to show the American people your true colors. You act like Trump; now you can look like him too.
Sincerely,
Correct The Record
Correct The Record is a strategic research and rapid response team designed to defend Hillary Clinton from baseless attacks.
Correct The Record ∙ http://correct2016.wpengine.com/∙ Facebook ∙ @CorrectRecord
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