Wednesday Open Thread [6.3.15]

“In a remarkable reversal of national security policy formed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Senate voted on Tuesday to curtail the federal government’s sweeping surveillance of American phone records, sending the legislation to President Obama’s desk for his signature,” the New York Times reports.

“The vote was a rebuke to Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, as lawmakers beat back a series of amendments that he sought that would have rolled back proposed controls on government spying.”

Washington Post on the Clinton Foundation: “Today, the Clinton Foundation is unlike anything else in the history of the nation and, perhaps, the world: It is a global philanthropic empire run by a former U.S. president and closely affiliated with a potential future president, with the audacious goal of solving some of the world’s most vexing problems by bringing together the wealthiest, glitziest and most powerful people from every part of the planet.”

“The evolution of the foundation, which began as a modest nonprofit focused largely on the ex-president’s library in Arkansas, is a nearly perfect reflection of the Clintons themselves. It was not designed as a master plan, but rather has grown, one brainstorm at a time, in accordance with the ambitious, loyal, restless and, often, scattered nature of its primary namesake… In the middle of it all is Bill Clinton, a new kind of post-presidential celebrity: a convener who wrangles rich people’s money for poor people’s problems. In the process, the foundation elevates the wealthy by giving them entrée to one of the nation’s most prominent political families.”

I view the Clinton Foundation as a modern day Robin Hood, and I love the description of wrangling rich people’s money to solve poor people’s problems. The Clintons need to brand it that way, and as a precursor to solving income inequality.

Rick Klein: “That’s among the takeaways of the new ABC News/Washington Post poll, which features Hillary Clinton and nearly all of her major Republican challengers viewed more unfavorably than favorably. (Marco Rubio, at 31-31, is the only top contender not underwater; Donald Trump has an unfavorable rating of 71 percent, the highest among the names polled.) Those are tough numbers to face for any candidate, and the poll indicates damage from the campaign thus far. Clinton, for instance, faces strong disapproval for her handling of her email and stories of her personal wealth.”

“But more remarkable about the crop of numbers is how early these perceptions have been set, and how widely they are held. This is before candidates and their allies spending hundreds of millions of dollars to trash each other on television for a year. It’s a useful lesson for the would-be presidents: voters might tolerate you, but they’re not in general inclined to actually like you.”

NATIONAL–PRESIDENT–REPUBLICAN PRIMARY–ABC/Washington Post: Paul 11, Walker 11, Bush 10, Rubio 10, Huckabee 9, Carson 8, Cruz 8, Christie 6, Santorum 4, Trump 4, Kasich 3, Fiorina 2, Perry 2, Graham 1, Pataki 1, Jindal 0

NATIONAL–PRESIDENT–DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY–ABC/Washington Post: Clinton 62, Biden 14, Sanders 10, O’Malley 3, Webb 1, Chafee 1.

This is the second poll in a row showing Biden ahead of Sanders. A Biden boomlet? Sympathy?

NATIONAL–PRESIDENT–ABC/Washington Post: Clinton 55, Bush 39

A new New York Times/CBS News poll finds Americans of both parties “fundamentally reject the regime of untrammeled money in elections made possible by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling and other court decisions and now favor a sweeping overhaul of how political campaigns are financed.”

“The findings reveal deep support among Republicans and Democrats alike for new measures to restrict the influence of wealthy givers, including limiting the amount of money that can be spent by ‘super PACs’ and forcing more public disclosure on organizations now permitted to intervene in elections without disclosing the names of their donors.”

Most of America is ready for the Supreme Court to grant nationwide same-sex marriage rights. But not Republicans.

American voters say 56 – 38 percent they would support a U.S. Supreme Court decision granting same-sex couples the constitutional right to marry, according to a Quinnipiac University National poll released today. Voters support 56 – 36 percent same-sex marriage in general.

Backing a possible Supreme Court decision in favor of same-sex marriage are Democrats 70 – 24 percent, independent voters 61 – 34 percent, men 55 – 41 percent and women 57 – 35 percent. Republicans are opposed 62 – 34 percent, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe- ack) University Poll finds.