Trump rallies continue to dwarf Hillary rallies, but the left thinks "voter intensity" for the two is about equal, and low

Reported in The Nation, here, for what it's worth:

In 2012, 60 percent of Obama backers supported him “strongly” (the comparable figure for Romney supporters was 38 percent).

You’d be forgiven for thinking that this election has seen voter “intensity” reach new heights. However, a July poll found the level of “strong” support was about equal for both Clinton and Trump—and strikingly low: Pew found in that poll that “fewer than half of both candidates’ supporters said they backed their candidate strongly,” with 45 percent each. The equal proportions suggest intensity is not going to skew the poll results this year.

Look who's talkin': Susan Collins speaks up for decency and for the vulnerable but routinely votes to kill the unborn

CNN

An earlier generation of Americans would have found Susan Collins indecent and downright criminal.

Susan Collins, quoted here:

[R]ejecting the conventions of political correctness is different from showing complete disregard for common decency. Mr. Trump did not stop with shedding the stilted campaign dialogue that often frustrates voters. Instead, he opted for a constant stream of denigrating comments . . .

My conclusion about Mr. Trump’s unsuitability for office is based on his disregard for the precept of treating others with respect, an idea that should transcend politics. Instead, he opts to mock the vulnerable and inflame prejudices by attacking ethnic and religious minorities.

Gold Star mom thinks it's OK for the Khans to politicize their son's sacrifice and Trump just has to take it

From the story here:

Kristine Schellhaas, the wife of a Marine and author of "15 Years of War," said many people "love Trump for his brash, call-it-as-he-sees-it rhetoric, but this time, Trump’s gone too far in the eyes of the military members and their families."  

"As a mother who lost her son, I know the feeling of being unable to talk about his loss. I too have felt like Mrs. Khan, unable to find the words to describe the chasm in my heart that will never heal. To set her up and ridicule her as a Gold Star mom is cruel," she said.

  

"This isn’t about being Republican or Democrat, it’s about being a human being with a moral compass. Trump has gone too far and he’s lost a lot of military supporters because of it. He owes the Gold Star community and Khan family an apology," she said.   

The white vote decreased by 2 million 2008-2012

Fewer than 500,000 votes total from four states, Florida, Virginia, Ohio and New Hampshire, kept Romney from victory in 2012.

From the story here:

. . . Trump might need a smaller surge of 3 million white men to show up at the polls.

That’s not out of the question, considering that the white vote decreased by 2 million voters between 2008 and 2012 — a drop analysts attributed to Romney’s lack of appeal with the working class. 

Republicans say the drop-off in white working class voters was the worst in deep red states that Romney won easily, but it also affected the tally in Ohio, a pivotal battleground.

Trump caves to the establishment, endorses Paul Ryan of Wisconsin

Story here.

Next time you need money, Donald, ask Paul. He pays for the $400 bottles of wine at dinner, mine cost $4.

Good luck with that!

Ex-Republican libertarians are obsessed with screws and dicks

Booted from committee by Boehner, now voters boot anti-Trumper Rep. Tim Huelskamp entirely

Former House Speaker John Boehner famously booted Freedom Caucus members Tim Huelskamp, Justin Amash, Walter Jones and David Schweikert from House committees late in 2012 for not cooperating with leadership.

Now voters in Kansas have booted Huelskamp entirely by defeating him in his Republican primary. The three-term congressman lost to a challenger by 13 points and 13,500 votes.

Politico reports that the US Chamber of Commerce and the Ricketts family spent heavily to defeat Huelskamp, who had the temerity to vote against several versions of farming legislation which were more important to Kansas voters than the ideological reasons Huelskamp gave.

The same ideological reasons made Huelskamp anti-Trump, but that did him no good with the also anti-Trump Ricketts family.

Michigan primary turnout yesterday was 19.1% of registered voters

According to the Michigan Secretary of State, 1.405 million votes were cast in primary races yesterday out of 7.36 million registered through the end of July, just 56% of those cast in March.

2.5 million turned out on March 8th in the presidential primary, about 34% of registered voters, smashing an all-time record for a presidential primary set in 1972 at 1.9 million. In excess of 1.33 million of those 2.5 million votes in March were cast for Republicans vying for the presidential nomination finally secured by Donald Trump after Ted Cruz lost in Indiana.

In presidential elections since 1972, turnout nationwide has averaged 74% of those registered but just 53% of the voting age population.

Obama trades cash for Americans held by Iran, but Trump is unfit to be president

Tyler Cowen, soulless libertarian, epitomizes what's wrong with America, thinks there's a positive side to Chinese cheating and slave labor which must be considered

Here:

I expected to hate [Peter Navarro's] "Crouching Tiger: What China’s Militarism Means for the World," but instead I found it to be an intelligent discussion of the problems likely to result from a more assertive China. That said, Navarro does not come close to demonstrating his opening prediction that future war with China is “very likely.” In contrast, his "The Coming China Wars" is mostly a series of emotional diatribes against the Chinese government, opening with charges of cheating and slave labor and never much considering the positive side of Chinese economic growth.

Republican coward won't face the voters: Rep. Richard Hanna is retiring, announces he'll vote for Hillary

It's Hillary who's thick as thieves with the Russians, not Donald Trump

From the story here:

While Clinton was in charge at the State Department, the U.S. recruited a bunch of U.S. high-tech powerhouses -- including Google, Cisco and Intel -- to take part in the [high tech Skolkovo] project. Of the 28 companies from the U.S., Europe and Russia that took part, 17 were donors to the Clinton Foundation or paid for Bill Clinton to give speeches.

It's yet another stunning example of the Clinton Foundation's growing list of conflicts of interest, suggesting that Hillary used the State Department's offices to line her family's pockets through the Clinton Foundation. Don't forget that, with her email carelessness on her home-brew server during her tenure as secretary of state, Hillary has already exposed the United States' most secret information to the Russian government. As radio talk show host and law professor Hugh Hewitt noted Monday: "Hillary is already a Putin pawn."

Hillary pops to +9 in CNN poll with convention bounce, but was +13 in it to start May

Trump was +3 in the poll last week.

That's some fickle sample CNN surveys.