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CTR Saturday August 23, 2014 Roundup

From:bstrider@americanbridge.org To: ctrfriendsfamily@americanbridge.org Date: 2014-08-23 14:45 Subject: CTR Saturday August 23, 2014 Roundup

> Correct The Record Saturday August 23, 2014 Roundup: > > > > Headlines: > > > > Mother Jones: “Correcting His Record” > > > > “Correct the Record is part of a larger shadow campaign that’s gearing up for 2016.” > > > > > > Associated Press: “Clinton Shadow in Iowa No Threat to Some Democrats” > > > > “Democrats with presidential dreams are coming to Iowa with little fanfare, entourage or recognition. They are undeterred by talk of a Hillary Rodham Clinton candidacy in 2016 or her plans to visit the leadoff caucus state next month to honor retiring Sen. Tom Harkin.” > > > > > > Associated Press: “Potential 2016 Candidates Cautious on Ferguson” > > > > “Asked why Democrats like Clinton and Biden haven't discussed it [Ferguson] yet, [Rep. John] Lewis said, ‘maybe they felt that the nation should speak with maybe one voice, and that should be the president.’” > > > > > > CNN: “Warren, through lawyer, disavows Ready for Warren” > > > > “In a letter to the Federal Election Commission Friday, Warren fully disavowed herself of Ready for Warren, a super PAC with the explicit goal of encouraging the liberal Massachusetts senator to run for president in 2016.” > > > > > > CNN: “Democrat Jim Webb: One show not enough to fully criticize Clinton's record” > > > > “Democrat Jim Webb needs more than one show if you want him to critique Hillary Clinton's record as secretary of state.” > > > > > > New York Times: “Legal Woes of Owners Help Put the Plaza Back in Play” > > > > “A prominent fund-raiser for Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential run in 2008, Mr. Chatwal pleaded guilty in Federal District Court in Brooklyn in April to witness tampering and funneling more than $180,000 in illegal contributions to three candidates, Ms. Clinton among them, between 2007 and 2011.” > > > > > > National Memo column: Cynthia Tucker: “Hillary Clinton’s Hawkishness May Be Her Undoing” > > > > “Clinton’s presumed bid for the presidency — a historic run she’s unlikely to turn down — is threatened by the same unfortunate tendency that cost her in 2008: presumption.” > > > > > > Washington Post blog: Post Politics: “Romney and Ryan talk Hillary Clinton, and 2016: ‘She’s beatable’” > > > > “‘Looking at her [Sec. Clinton’s] record, seeing how ineffective she was in securing more security, is going to be a great handicap for her in the general election,’ said Romney. ‘I don’t think it’ll hurt her in the primary, but it will in the general.” > > > > > > > > > > Articles: > > > > > > Mother Jones: “Correcting His Record” > > > > By Patrick Caldwell > > September/ October 2014 > > > > [Subtitle:] Reformed Clinton antagonist David Brock’s team of “nerd virgins” seeks to destroy the anti-Hillary memes he once unleashed > > > > A week after Hillary Clinton released her new memoir, Hard Choices, I met Burns Strider for lunch at the Hotel Monaco in Washington, DC. Just as the book hit the shelves, Strider’s organization, Correct the Record, had released 11 pages of bullet points swatting down anticipated criticisms from Clinton’s detractors (“Hard Choices is just another way for Hillary to make money hand over fist”; “Hard Choices is a glossed-over snooze-fest”). It was the kind of preemptive spin that Correct the Record was created to churn out. As Clinton prepares for a possible presidential run, Correct the Record keeps constant watch for any conceivable attacks against her, and then aggressively beats them back before they take hold. > > > > As he picked at his beet and greens salad, Strider told me how he’d ditched eating animal products in 2010 at the behest of the then-secretary of state. “You’ve got to think about your two boys,” she told Strider, who had worked as her senior adviser on faith outreach during the 2008 campaign. That night he got a call from Bill Clinton, who extolled the virtues of herbivore-themed books and handwritten recipes jotted down by the former president. > > > > The contemplative 48-year-old vegan, who manages Correct the Record’s day-to-day operations, says he has no qualms about his new role in the blood sport of presidential politics. Yet his boss is an even more unlikely figure: David Brock, the former Clinton nemesis and ringleader of the “vast right-wing conspiracy” that Hillary Clinton decried in 1998. > > > > In the mid-1990s, as a reporter at the American Spectator, Brock investigated the first couple’s involvement in the Whitewater real estate scheme and dove into the allegations that Bill had used Arkansas state troopers to facilitate his liaisons, including one with Paula Jones. (He also infamously described Anita Hill as “a little bit nutty and a little bit slutty.”) Brock later underwent a political conversion and founded Media Matters, a research shop dedicated to countering Fox News and right-wing talking points. Now he’s come full circle, launching Correct the Record to combat the resurgence of the venal, opportunistic pols who will do anything to attain power-that he once worked so hard to popularize. > > > > Brock’s ideological shift came in the late ‘90s as he penned The Seduction of Hillary Rodham, a book that everyone expected to be a withering takedown – but ended up being a tepid biography. By 1997 Brock began to recant, publishing a me culpa inEsquire titled “Confessions of a Right-Wing Hit man.” In 2002, he released Blinded by the Right: The Conscience of an Ex-Conservative, a tell-all about the faults of the conservative movement and his disillusionment with it. > > > > Strider recalls picking up a copy in an airport bookstore and devouring it. He passed it along to his then-boss, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and arranged for Brock to address House Democrats. Meanwhile, Bill Clinton had started passing copies along to friends, opening new doors for Brock among liberal insiders. Having turned his back on his old right-wing patrons, Brock proved skilled at convincing rich liberals to open their wallets by revealing inside details of the conservative propaganda machine. > > > > Brock says he first conceived of Correct the Record last summer, “Having left the State Department,” Brock told me, “Clinton didn’t have the kind of robust operation that one would have if one was holding public office. That’s where I saw the need.” He wrote the memo predicating “an uptick in political attacks” against Clinton and proposed a rapid-response group to defend her. As it happened, the very next day American Rising, an opposition research outfit founded by former Mitt Romney and Republican National Committee staff, announced a “Stop Hillary 2016” initiative. > > > > Correct the Record’s staff (18 and counting) is crammed into a newsroom-style bullpen in the back corner of the offices of American Bridge 21st Century, Brock’s Super-PAC. “They’re always there; they’re always working around the clock,” former Clinton White House adviser Paul Begala says of the crew. “I always tease David that he finds all of these nerd virgins and locks them away in a vault where they never see sunlight or have a drink or get laid. But God Bless them!” > > > > The team has been building an exhaustive database of factoids documenting Clinton’s career, as well as compiling opposition research on her putative opponents. With Clinton’s own press team largely silent, Correct the Record has become the go-to source for reporters seeking pro-Clinton quotes in response to Republican attacks. > > > > Correct the Record is part of a larger shadow campaign that’s gearing up for 2016. It includes Ready for Hillary, which is collecting voter data, and Priorities USA, which is raising big money.” For the first time in my adult life, the left has their shit together,” says Begala, who relies on Correct the Record for talking points when he prepares for cable spots as a Hillary surrogate. > > > > Hillary Clinton has always had a rocky relationship with the press, thanks in part to dealing with conservative smear artists like the young Brock. Correct the Record reflects her prickly approach to media relations. The group spent much of the early summer sending our press releases touting the sales of Clinton’s book and tweeting about stories that questioned the numbers. When New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd wrote a column about the lavish speaking fees commanded by Hillary and daughter Chelsea, Correct fired back with a dossier on Dowd, highlighting her own speaking fees. > > > > But this strategy could backfire. Hillary has always struggled with the perception that she is inauthentic and quick to become defensive; being shielded by a group that pounces every slight could reinforce that image. > > > > But Strider isn’t too concerned. The Democrats failed in 2004 he explained, by not building a media operation that could respond to the Swift Boating of John Kerry. He doesn’t want Clinton to suffer from the same mistake in 2016. “One thing Nancy Pelosi has said to me is, ‘Burns, in politics if you take a swing at somebody you can rest assured of one thing: They’re going to swing back. So why not prepare in advance?’” > > > > > > > > > > Associated Press: “Clinton Shadow in Iowa No Threat to Some Democrats” > > > > By Thomas Beaumont > > August 23, 2014, 3:39 a.m. EDT > > > > ALTOONA, Iowa (AP) — Democrats with presidential dreams are coming to Iowa with little fanfare, entourage or recognition. > > > > They are undeterred by talk of a Hillary Rodham Clinton candidacy in 2016 or her plans to visit the leadoff caucus state next month to honor retiring Sen. Tom Harkin. > > > > But former Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and a few other Democrats have nothing to lose if Clinton runs, and lots to gain if she doesn't. > > > > "I'm here to listen to people and think about things," Webb told The Associated Press with a grin. > > > > Webb's answer, matched with his schedule, has the ring of someone on a political fact-finding mission. > > > > The former Navy secretary spoke Thursday to the Iowa Federation of Labor's annual conference, an important gathering of Democratic opinion leaders. He also campaigned for Rep. Dave Loebsack and Senate candidate Bruce Braley and dined in Des Moines with prominent Democrats, all the while guided by Iowa-based political operative Jessica Vandenberg. > > > > It was Webb's first such foray. He used it to set himself apart from President Barack Obama, whose job approval nationally has been below 50 percent since last year. > > > > The president's use of executive authority "has gone way too far away from the legislative branch," Webb told the 100 labor leaders at a conference center outside Des Moines. "It certainly is outside all precedent, and the Congress should have stepped in," he added later in the interview. > > > > But Webb, a decorated former Marine whose serious tone hardly makes the pulse race, mixed in a little humor, a time-honored political icebreaker. "I'm the only person elected to the United States Senate with a union card, two Purple Hearts and three tattoos," he told the labor conference to chuckles and applause. > > > > On the GOP side, some potential candidates are further along in Iowa, with paid staff on the ground. > > > > Klobuchar's scheduled trip to Iowa on Saturday was to be her third since the 2012 election. She says she would support a Clinton candidacy. But if Clinton weren't in the race, Klobuchar would have proximity to Iowa on her side. > > > > "Right now, I'm focused on this job and I think a lot of the work I'm doing in the Senate has national implications," she told The Des Moines Register while in Iowa last year. > > > > Other Democrats who have visited Iowa include Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley and former Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who is supported largely by Democrats, will be in Iowa when Clinton attends Harkin's annual fundraiser. > > > > Making early visits before better-known prospects has its advantage, said former Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh. He spent 2006 cultivating Democratic support in Iowa, as did Mark Warner, then a former Virginia governor and now a U.S. senator. Both abandoned the idea of a presidential bid after seeing Obama emerging as likely the most promising alternative to Clinton in the 2008 race. > > > > "I reached the conclusion that I could run, but I couldn't win," Bayh told the AP. > > > > Others stay in, despite heavyweight rivals, to audition for top administration posts, as Vice President Joe Biden did, while others lay the groundwork for future campaigns, Bayh said. > > > > Biden, the party's biggest potential 2016 contender not named Clinton, has not been to Iowa since headlining Harkin's event last year, but he has stayed in touch with Iowans he's befriended as a two-time candidate for president and groups who have come to Washington. > > > > Some, however, strike it rich. > > > > A little-known governor of Arkansas ahead of the 1992 presidential campaign, Bill Clinton made early inroads in Iowa and New Hampshire even though more prominent Democrats — New York's Mario Cuomo and Missouri's Richard Gephardt — were in the mix. Clinton had nothing to lose staying in the race, then steadily gained as the field narrowed. > > > > "You might get some who run anyway," Bayh said. "They might catch lightning in a bottle." > > > > > > > > > > AP: “Potential 2016 Candidates Cautious on Ferguson” > > > > By Ken Thomas > > August 22, 2014, 3:00 p.m. EDT > > > > ATLANTA (AP) — The police shooting and death of Michael Brown has gripped the nation amid clashes between protesters and the police in suburban St. Louis. But for most of those who want to lead the nation, there's little to gain in an election year by taking a stand or proposing new policy. > > > > Instead, a group of potential 2016 presidential candidates are preserving their electoral prospects and retreating into safe rhetorical territory by saying very little, if anything at all. > > > > Amid tensions over Brown's the death, Democrats and Republicans alike have been reluctant to take sides, draw any conclusions ahead of an investigation or connect the case to specific policy changes. > > > > "As policymakers, I think we should wait and just be respectful of the community and the family before trying to tack our issue onto this tragedy," said Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who has been promoting a new book as the protests have unfolded. > > > > For Republicans, who have struggled to win support among black voters for more than a half-century, quickly siding with law enforcement carries risk amid anger over the death of the unarmed, black 18-year-old by the hand of a white police officer. > > > > Democrats, meanwhile, have watched as President Barack Obama, the nation's first black president, has sought to strike an appropriate tone, on one hand urging the public to remain calm in Ferguson and voicing the need for law and order while pointing to the case as another example of injustice felt by many African-Americans. > > > > Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has been vacationing in New York's Hamptons, hasn't publicly addressed the Ferguson case, nor has Vice President Joe Biden, who was vacationing when the shooting occurred. > > > > New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was asked about the Ferguson case during a recent town hall meeting and cautioned against politicizing it. "None of us quite know yet exactly what happened in Ferguson," said Christie, a former federal prosecutor, on Tuesday. "I've been urging people not to prejudge anything here." > > > > Charlton McIlwain, a New York University professor who has studied race in U.S. politics, said many political leaders see little upside to discussing the racially charged incident at length. He said the portrayal of Brown and the police officer as either a hero or villain — at this stage — makes it difficult to take sides. > > > > Clinton "like Christie and some of the others, simply don't see anything to gain from it," he said. > > > > Civil rights leaders have urged future presidential candidates to address the unrest — most notably the Rev. Al Sharpton, who told participants at a rally last weekend that potential candidates like Clinton and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush shouldn't "get laryngitis on this issue." > > > > "Nobody can go to the White House unless they stop by our house and talk about policing," Sharpton said. > > > > The exception has been Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who has urged fellow Republicans to actively seek out African-American support. He wrote in Time that the incident resembled a war and showed the need to demilitarize police departments. He wrote the combination of a military mode with the erosion of civil liberties has led many black Americans to feel that they are being unfairly targeted. > > > > "Anyone who thinks that race does not still, even if inadvertently, skew the application of criminal justice in this country is just not paying close enough attention," Paul wrote. > > > > Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, considered by some Democrats as a future presidential candidate, also offered candor, telling reporters in Boston on Wednesday that he was "sick of unarmed black men being shot by police. I'm sick of the lawlessness on the streets. I think everybody's tired of it." > > > > In Atlanta, the Democratic National Committee plans to consider a resolution promoting community policing following the Ferguson case in its summer meeting this weekend. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a civil rights leader, said in an interview that "people have been almost shocked over what happened. A lot of people don't know how to respond." > > > > Asked why Democrats like Clinton and Biden haven't discussed it yet, Lewis said, "maybe they felt that the nation should speak with maybe one voice, and that should be the president." > > > > > > > > > > CNN: “Warren, through lawyer, disavows Ready for Warren” > > > > By Dan Merica > > August 22, 2014, 5:18 p.m. EDT > > > > Elizabeth Warren is not Ready for Warren. > > > > In a letter to the Federal Election Commission Friday, Warren fully disavowed herself of Ready for Warren, a super PAC with the explicit goal of encouraging the liberal Massachusetts senator to run for president in 2016. > > > > "The senator has not, and does not, explicitly or implicitly, authorize, endorse, or otherwise approve of the organization's formation or activities," attorney Marc Elias said in the letter. > > > > "To the contrary, Senator Warren has publicly announced that she is not running for president in 2016," he said. > > > > The letter also states that Warren hopes "this organization will focus its attention and energy on maintaining Democratic control of the U.S. Senate and not confuse donors about a non-existent run for President." > > > > Erica Sagrans, the Ready for Warren's campaign manger, told CNN the group of devotees was undeterred. > > > > "I don't think there's anything new in this letter, and we're continuing with our campaign to draft Elizabeth Warren to run for president in 2016 because we believe she's the best person for the job," Sagrans wrote in a statement. > > > > She continued: "We've all been clear since we launched our campaign that Senator Warren isn't associated with our group, and we aren't associated with the senator." > > > > Responding to the Warren letter's call for focus on the midterms, Sagrans said the group will be focused on that effort and "completely agree with Senator Warren that maintaining Democratic control of the Senate in 2014 is what we need to focus on this fall." > > > > Ready for Warren was started earlier this year in response to liberal excitement around the senator's possible candidacy in 2016 and he registered as a super PAC earlier this month. > > > > The group is a direct response to what many liberal organizers say is an assumption of inevitability among the cadre of groups and political operatives organizing for a possible Hillary Clinton campaign. > > > > The name itself is a play on Ready for Hillary, a group organizing for Clinton. > > > > Warren has repeatedly said she is not running for president, telling multiple outlets the same present tense phrase: "I am not running for president." > > > > Her disavowal of the super PAC urging her to run sets her apart from Clinton. Ready for Hillary has received tacit support from people close to Clinton and the former secretary of state has not told the group to stop. > > > > > > > > > > CNN: “Democrat Jim Webb: One show not enough to fully criticize Clinton's record” > > > > By Dan Merica > > August 22, 2014, 4:35 p.m. EDT > > > > Democrat Jim Webb needs more than one show if you want him to critique Hillary Clinton's record as secretary of state. > > > > During an appearance on Iowa Public Television’s "Iowa Press" show, Webb – a former senator from Virginia who is considered a dark horse to run for president in 2016 – was asked to critique Clinton's record at the State Department. > > > > Webb said, "I think there’s time to have that discussion later." > > > > "Why not now?" a reporter asked. > > > > "It would probably take up the whole show," Webb retorted. "I think there were good points when Secretary Clinton was secretary of state, particularly what they call the pivot to Asia.” > > > > But, he added, “I think the actions in the Arab Spring were probably detrimental." Webb expressed concerned about the "unilateral decision of (the Obama) administration to use force in Libya." > > > > Webb, who said he hoped to be back in Iowa again soon, was interviewed on Iowa Press for a total of 25 minutes. > > > > "I think we ought to have more Democrats coming out here," Webb said, seemingly encouraging more Democrats to run for president. "We need to stimulate the debate about where the country is." > > > > Clinton, who spent four years as President Barack Obama's top diplomat, is widely considered the front runner for the Democratic nomination and is admittedly thinking about running for president. > > > > Webb is on a two-day trip through Iowa, where he is campaigning for Bruce Braley, the Democrats’ U.S. Senate candidate. > > > > The former secretary of the Navy under President Ronald Reagan has not ruled out running for president. Webb told Diane Rehm on her nationally syndicated NPR show that he and his wife are "just thinking about what to do next." > > > > "I care a lot about where the country is and we’ll be sorting that out," Webb said. "It takes me a while to decide things, and I’m not going to say one way or the other, really." > > > > On Thursday, WHO TV in Iowa asked Webb whether he could beat Clinton if they both decide to run in 2016. > > > > His response: "No comment." > > > > > > > > > > New York Times: “Legal Woes of Owners Help Put the Plaza Back in Play” > > > > By Charles V. Bagli > > Aug. 22, 2014 > > > > The rumor sent a shudder through the bell captain on Monday as he hustled across the lobby of the Plaza Hotel, the Manhattan landmark at Fifth Avenue and Central Park South. > > > > A couple photographing their young children mimicking a scene from “Home Alone 2” in a marble hallway nearby said they, too, had heard the reports: Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei had put down $2 billion for the Plaza, an elegant fixture in the city’s cultural and commercial life for more than a century, and two other high-end hotels. > > > > After four days of reports about the sale ricocheting from London to New York to Hollywood to Mumbai to the Middle East, a spokesman for the sultan issued a statement vehemently denying that he was “involved in any way with the purchase” of the hotels. > > > > The denial notwithstanding, this much is clear: The Plaza is in play, again, as part of a drama with an international cast of characters, two of whom are facing significant legal problems. > > > > From his prison cell in India, one of the two, Subrata Roy, a flamboyant Asian billionaire, is trying to sell his company’s majority stakes in the Plaza, the Grosvenor House in London and the Dream New York hotel in Lower Manhattan. > > > > The price tag: $2 billion. > > > > “It’d be a shame for anything to happen to the Plaza,” said Sumner A. Baye, a veteran hotel consultant who happened to be sitting at a table in the hotel’s mahogany-paneled Rose Room overlooking the lobby on Monday. “It’s one of the great five-star hotels. It’s New York all the way.” > > > > The sultan had indeed expressed interest in the hotel package, analysts said, but was dealing with other issues: His Beverly Hills and Bel-Air hotels in Los Angeles had become the subject of boycotts after he instituted laws in Brunei that permitted the stoning of gay people and adulterers. This week, the Human Rights Campaign threatened to extend the boycotts to the Plaza if the sultan were to acquire the property. > > > > There had been whispers of other potential international buyers taking a look at the Plaza and the other hotels in Mr. Roy’s portfolio. Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia — a billionaire investor who already owns a slice of the Plaza as well as stakes in the Ritz Carlton and Fairmont chains — was supposedly among those who were interested. > > > > But, Mr. Baye said, “He told me a month ago, ‘There’s no way I would pay the money they’re looking for.’ ” > > > > While they inhabit a rarefied world, five-star hotels are as popular among the superwealthy today as an 8,000-square-foot, $95 million apartment in one of the slim skyscrapers rising on West 57th Street along what has come to be known as Billionaire’s Row. > > > > And the Plaza is one of the best-known five-star hotels in the world. > > > > It opened in 1907 as the city’s most luxurious hotel, with the neo-Classical Palm Court for tea and the dark-paneled Oak Room bar for drinks. Today, the rooms feature Beaux-Arts décor, 24-karat gold-plated fixtures, solid white-marble vanities and, the hotel’s website says, the “finest Italian bath towels and linens.” > > > > The guests who have swirled below the hotel’s hundreds of chandeliers include Alfred and Gwynne Vanderbilt, F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Marilyn Monroe and the Beatles. (And, of course, there was Eloise.) > > > > Despite — or, perhaps, because of — its lofty rates, the Plaza has been further embedded in the popular culture through its appearances in a string of films, from “The Great Gatsby” and “The Way We Were” to “Barefoot in the Park” and “Home Alone 2.” > > > > “It’s one of a handful of five-star hotels in New York, in terms of amenities, location and room rates,” said Thomas P. McConnell, who heads the global hotel group at Cushman & Wakefield, a real estate broker. “It’s competitive with the Pierre, the St. Regis, Four Seasons, Ritz Carlton, the Mandarin Oriental and two new entrants, the Park Hyatt and the Baccarat.” > > > > Now the Plaza is on the market again. But ownership of the 19-story, chateaulike building is complicated in ways that require a scorecard to decipher. Anyone buying Mr. Roy’s stake would be getting only a fraction of the landmark. > > > > First, a bit of the property’s more recent history. Donald J. Trump, who fell in love with the Plaza in the 1980s, bought it for $390 million in 1988. Under pressure from his lenders, Mr. Trump sold the hotel in 1995 for $325 million to Prince Al-Waleed, who brought in Fairmont to manage the property. > > > > Nine years later, in 2004, the prince sold the hotel for $675 million to an Israeli company, the Elad Group, which planned dramatic changes and a three-year, $450 million renovation for the 805-room hotel. > > > > Miki Naftali, who oversaw the project but no longer works for Elad, carved the Plaza into four pieces. Half of the building was converted to 181 apartments, which eventually sold for a combined $1.4 billion. The Oak Room bar, some shops and a basement food court were turned into a retail portion. A 131-room hotel for overnight guests was the third piece. The fourth comprised 150 condominium-hotel units, which were managed through the hotel. Eventually, 50 of those units were sold to private owners, essentially as time-share units. > > > > Elad sold a 50 percent interest in the 131-room hotel and a 25 percent interest in the condominium-hotel units to Prince Al-Waleed, while keeping the retail block. > > > > In 2012, Mr. Roy, the chairman of the Sahara Group, paid Elad $570 million for 50 percent of the hotel, 100 of the hotel-condominium units and the retail portion. That is what he is now trying to sell. (Prince Al-Waleed retains his piece of the property.) > > > > After taking over the Plaza, Mr. Roy brought in Sant Singh Chatwal, an Indian-American hotelier, giving him what analysts said was a 5 percent stake and putting him in charge of the Oak Room, which has been closed since 2011, and the Palm Court, which is being renovated and scheduled to reopen in September. > > > > But Mr. Roy was charged with contempt earlier this year by the Indian Supreme Court, which accused Sahara of making illegal investments. He was jailed in New Delhi, with bail set at $3 billion. He has reportedly been trying to sell assets, including the Plaza and his other hotels, to raise that sum. > > > > Mr. Roy’s partner, Mr. Chatwal, has his own legal troubles. A prominent fund-raiser for Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential run in 2008, Mr. Chatwal pleaded guilty in Federal District Court in Brooklyn in April to witness tampering and funneling more than $180,000 in illegal contributions to three candidates, Ms. Clinton among them, between 2007 and 2011. > > > > Mr. Chatwal, whose office declined to comment, is set to be sentenced in October. > > > > Interested observers hope that, for the Plaza, the end result will be positive. > > > > “I think it’s time to see some stability at the Plaza,” Mr. Naftali said. “Hopefully, the new buyers will have it for a long time.” > > > > > > > > > > National Memo column: Cynthia Tucker: “Hillary Clinton’s Hawkishness May Be Her Undoing” > > > > By Cynthia Tucker > > August 23, 2014, 12:00 a.m. EDT > > > > Even without a formal declaration of her intent to run, Hillary Clinton is the presumed Democratic nominee for president in 2016. She has earned that status through two decades of hard work on the national stage — as First Lady, as a senator from New York, and, especially, as a loyal and energetic secretary of state in the administration of her former rival, Barack Obama. > > > > But Clinton’s presumed bid for the presidency — a historic run she’s unlikely to turn down — is threatened by the same unfortunate tendency that cost her in 2008: presumption. She seems oblivious to national trends that make some of her stances unpopular. > > Nothing better illustrates that presumption than her continued hawkishness, a trait on full display in her interview earlier this month with Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic Monthly. While Washington pundits focused on her curt dismissal of a few words the president allegedly spoke to reporters — “Great nations need organizing principles, and ‘Don’t do stupid stuff’ is not an organizing principle,” she said — the substance of her argument is much more troubling than that. > > > > She insisted that if Obama had intervened in Syria, if he had just agreed to arm Syrian moderates, jihadists such as the bloodthirsty cohort of the Islamic State might have been halted in their tracks. > > > > “The failure to help build up a credible fighting force of the people who were the originators of the protests against Assad — there were Islamists, there were secularists, there was everything in the middle — the failure to do that left a big vacuum, which the jihadists have now filled,” Clinton said. > > > > That sentiment drew huge cheers from the left-of-center interventionists, as well as the neo-cons, who still occupy positions of influence on the national stage. But it contrasts sharply with average voters, the regular Joes who recognize the limits of American power. Polls show that they want nothing to do with more foreign entanglements that don’t directly reflect U.S. interests. > > > > They remember that even deploying military advisors often leads to more boots on the ground, more American dead. And those dead are unlikely to come from the ranks of powerful politicians or diplomats or journalists, but rather from the working classes. More to the point, mainstream voters want their politicians to concentrate on fixing a broken economy here at home, not on fixing broken nations halfway around the world. > > > > Last fall, 52 percent of the public said the U.S. should “mind its own business internationally and let other countries get along the best they can on their own,” according to the Pew Research Center. It was the first time since 1964 that more than half the country held that view, Pew said. > > > > Given the half-hearted economic recovery, it’s no wonder that voters want their politicians to focus on rebuilding the broad American middle class. While Washington politicians and the scribes who cover them are doing just fine, much of the country has yet to mount a full comeback from the Great Recession. > > > > Moreover, it turns out that voters’ skepticism toward foreign interventions is supported by research, which shows that arming “moderates” was likely to backfire. > > > > Recently, political scientist Marc Lynch, writing in The Washington Post, summarized the data this way: > > > > “In general, external support for rebels almost always makes wars longer, bloodier and harder to resolve. … Worse … Syria had most of the characteristics of the type of civil war in which external support for rebels is least effective.” > > > > To be fair, Clinton didn’t suggest sending U.S. troops into Syria. Still, her criticism of Obama’s approach shows a tone-deafness, a calculated disregard for the attitude most Americans now hold toward foreign interventions. Sometimes, that sort of brush-off of popular sentiment is a hallmark of genuine leadership. In this case, it’s just arrogance. > > > > Clinton should know better. She was defeated for the Democratic nomination by a lesser-known senator largely because his opposition to the war in Iraq, by then a clear disaster, contrasted with her support for it. While she won’t face Obama in 2016, she might find herself up against Republican Sen. Rand Paul in the general election. And his skepticism toward military interventions could prove more popular than her stubborn, ill-advised hawkishness. > > > > > > > > > > Washington Post blog: Post Politics: “Romney and Ryan talk Hillary Clinton, and 2016: ‘She’s beatable’” > > > > By Robert Costa > > August 22, 2014, 1:31 p.m. EDT > > > > A little after 9 p.m. Thursday night, in a small room at the Union League Club of Chicago, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan were trying to find towels. Romney’s shoulders were soaking, his normally well-brushed hair matted and wet. A few minutes earlier, the GOP’s 2012 vice presidential nominee had doused his ticket-mate with a heaping pail of ice water to raise awareness for Lou Gehrig’s Disease. > > > > “What’s going through my head? A bucket of cold water,” Romney said to Ryan as they sat down for their first joint print interview since their defeat in the 2012 presidential election. > > > > “It was pretty good — and it’ll be on YouTube,” Ryan laughed. > > > > Relaxing with Ryan before they both headed off to different cities, the second-place finisher in the last presidential race railed against the frontrunner in the next, mocking Hillary Clinton’s attempt to “reset” relations with Russia during President Obama’s first term. > > > > “Looking at her record, seeing how ineffective she was in securing more security, is going to be a great handicap for her in the general election,” said Romney. “I don’t think it’ll hurt her in the primary, but it will in the general. > > > > “That picture of her with the foreign minister of Russia, smiling ear to ear with that red reset button, I presume that’s going to be an ad. Of all the miscalculations in foreign-policy history, that stands out as an unfortunate one.” > > > > His former running mate also downplayed Clinton’s fall odds. “She’s beatable,” said Ryan. “Her assets are her name identification, her ability to fundraise, and her campaign experience. Her liabilities are policies and track record. She was one of the architects of the Obama foreign policy. > > > > “I also think there may be a little fatigue,” he added. “People will be looking for someone new. She may be riding high now, but people may decide against having another four years of this kind of governing.” > > > > Alluding to some of the unrest in the GOP over foreign policy – the friction between the camp of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and those who seek a more muscular foreign policy -- Romney said now is “not the time for academic debates.” > > > > “Our party has to come together, or we will continue with a third term of Barack Obama, with an agenda led by President Obama and Harry Reid,” said the former Massachusetts governor. “That agenda has led us to a foreign policy vacuum that is threatening the things we hold dear, including our own safety.” > > > > Trail-ready language like that – along with a string of state-level appearances and robust candidate support -- has stoked GOP chatter about a possible third Romney run for the Oval Office. > > > > It’s a revival few expected. But Romney has seen his political capital ascend in Republican circles over the past year, with the well-reviewed Netflix documentary “MITT” and his many appearances for GOP candidates reviving his reputation in a party that never fully embraced him as its standard-bearer. Carefully picking where he campaigns, he’s been able to play elder statesman in financial rainmaker in several Senate and gubernatorial races. > > > > This month alone, Romney has campaigned in Arkansas, West Virginia, and North Carolina. In September, he’s planning visits to the presidential swing states of Colorado and Virginia. > > > > Ryan has stoked 2016 chatter at times himself, such as when he visited Iowa in April to speak to state Republicans. But his pitch there seemed to be more about seeking to soothe the roiling divisions in the GOP than positioning himself for a presidential bid. He has not been to New Hampshire since January 2013. And his colleagues in the House GOP said his excitement about taking over the powerful House Ways and Means Committee next year is the clearest sign yet that his attention for the short term is on Capitol Hill, rather than on making till-the-soil trips to early primary states. > > > > Still, for a party that has no frontrunner for the 2016 presidential nomination, Romney and Ryan represent two potential candidates who many see as natural possibilities, given their experience -- and their lack of legal headaches, which have plagued other White house contenders like Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.) as he has dealt with a bridge-closing scandal, and Gov. Rick Perry (R-Tex.), who was recently indicted for alleged abuse of power. > > > > Speaking Thursday in Chicago, Romney and Ryan teased the audience by encouraging each other to seek the White House. > > > > “Third time’s the charm,” Ryan said of Romney. Romney’s reply: Ryan “wouldn’t be a bad president” himself. The conservative business crowd there ate it up, laughing and applauding. > > > > “As you see how things have gone, I think we’re at an ‘I told you so’ moment,” Ryan said later. “Mitt is being vindicated on foreign policy and on domestic policy. I think people are seeing that his projections were correct and the kind person he is.” > > > > He turned to Romney. “You know, I haven’t even told you this, but that documentary on Netflix gives people the view of the person we know,” he said. “It shows that we missed an opportunity to elect someone who would’ve been a great president. People seem to be reassessing.” > > > > Still, Romney himself continues to dismiss the odds of a hat trick campaign. > > > > “My posture, and I’ve explained this many times, is that I’m not running, but I hope Paul will give it thought and there are other good people in the party giving thought, getting things organized,” he said. “I think you’ll see a very crowded debate in the first debate or two, and then hopefully narrow it down to someone who can express our vision to help the middle class in America and win in the general election.” > > > > > > > > > > Calendar: > > > > > > Sec. Clinton's upcoming appearances as reported online. Not an official schedule. > > > > · August 24 – Westhampton, NY: Sec. Clinton signs “Hard Choices” at Books & Books (hillaryclintonmemoir.com) > > · August 28 – San Francisco, CA: Sec. Clinton keynotes Nexenta’s OpenSDx Summit (BusinessWire) > > · September 4 – Las Vegas, NV: Sec. Clinton speaks at the National Clean Energy Summit (Solar Novis Today) > > · September 9 – Washington, DC: Sec. Clinton fundraises for the DSCC at her Washington home (DSCC) > > · September 14 – Indianola, IA: Sec. Clinton headlines Sen. Harkin’s Steak Fry (LA Times) > > · October ? – San Francisco, CA: Sec. Clinton fundraises for House Democratic women candidates with Nancy Pelosi (The Hill) > > · October 2 – Miami Beach, FL: Sec. Clinton keynotes the CREW Network Convention & Marketplace (CREW Network) > > · October 13 – Las Vegas, NV: Sec. Clinton keynotes the UNLV Foundation Annual Dinner (UNLV) > > · October 14 – San Francisco, CA: Sec. Clinton keynotes salesforce.com Dreamforce conference (salesforce.com) > > · December 4 – Boston, MA: Sec. Clinton speaks at the Massachusetts Conference for Women (MCFW) > >