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To quote an excerpt from author Michael J. Knowles new book, the main reason to vote for a Democrat is .

The above is not a typo.

Knowles tome, Reasons to Vote for Democrats: A Comprehensive Guide, is 266 pages of absolutely nothing. Clean, blank, snow-white pages. And as of Thursday morning, it occupied the No. 4 slot on Amazon.com's "Best Sellers" list.

Whats really great about this book, you can go cover-to-cover in about 15, 20 seconds, Knowles told Fox & Friends on Thursday.

Billed as the most exhaustively researched and coherently argued Democrat Party apologia to date, the spoof book was Knowles' attempt to razz the party for a lack of direction. The conservative journalist released it last month and the book was listed at $9.99 on Amazon -- but you can pick up a paperback on sale for $7.08.

The project does, curiously, contain an extensivebibliography and a table of contents. But nothing else.

It took a very long time to research this book, Knowles said Thursday. Ive been observing the Democratic Party for at least 10 years now and when I observed their record and reasons to vote for them on reasons of economics or foreign policy or homeland security or civil rights and so on I realized it was probably best to just leave all the pages blank.

A chapter on civil rights? Blank. Values? Nothing there.

When I started researching the book and going through this exhaustive study process, at first I turned to the 2012 Democratic National Convention, and it turned out they were deciding whether or not to include God in their party platform, Knowles said. And the Democrats booed God. Thats not good. So I decided probably if Im going to make a good case to vote for Democrats, probably just leave that chapter blank.

Or maybe the pages are just supposed to be filled with the thoughts in the reader's head? John Cage would like that.

Go here to read the rest:
Amazon best-seller 'Reasons to Vote for Democrats' book is ...

During the hour-long meeting, sources said Trump chastised the groups -- including Club for Growth, the Heritage Foundation, Americans for Prosperity, FreedomWorks and the Tea Party Patriots -- for calling the House GOP proposal "Obamacare lite," warning the tea party activists, "you are helping the other side."

In true Trump fashion, the President jumped into salesman mode, sources at the meeting said.

"This is going to be great. You're going to make it even greater," the President told the group. "I'm going to work hard to get it done."

The meeting between Trump and the conservative leaders also included White House senior advisers Steve Bannon, Reince Priebus, Kellyanne Conway and Marc Short, as well as other top West Wing staff.

Sources at the meeting said White House aides showed some openness to one aspect of the House GOP plan that has become an irritant to tea party aligned groups: the provision that pushes back an overhaul of the expansion Obamacare Medicaid funding until 2020.

The conservative groups at the meeting asked that the date be moved up to January 1, 2018. White House aides said they were "open to discussing" it, sources said.

Concerns were also raised about the tax credits in the House GOP plan which allow lower-income Americans to buy health insurance, financial assistance that tea party groups see as subsidies.

"They counter-punched hard on that," a source at the meeting said of the White House response.

Office of Management and Budget director Mick Mulvaney, a former member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, gave an impassioned defense of the tax credits, a display that surprised attendees from the conservative groups.

"He was very defensive about it," one attendee said about Mulvaney.

Confident that the health care plan will pass the House, Trump laid out his strategy for winning passage in the Senate, telling the meeting he will campaign heavily in red states featuring vulnerable Democrats up for re-election.

"Trump said he will have football stadium events in states where he won by 10-12 points and he is going to dare people to vote against him," a source at the meeting said.

As for prominent Republican opponents of the health care plan, Trump sounded optimistic.

On Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, the President was effusive about his one-time primary rival.

"I love him. He's a friend. He's going to end up voting for it," the President told the group.

A source at the meeting was astonished as to how White House staff could have been so blindsided by the initial conservative opposition to the GOP plan.

"We telegraphed it for weeks," one tea party official at the meeting said.

A WH official at the meeting said: "It was a legit policy meeting -- real discussion about specifics."

"The president expressed that he was open to things that could improve the bill, but was also clear that this is the vehicle -- this is the chance to repeal and replace."

More here:
Trump to GOP leaders: If this plan fails, I'll blame Democrats

Andrew Taylor, Associated Press

Photo: J. Scott Applewhite, AP

Democrats warn against funding border wall in catchall bill

WASHINGTON (AP) Top Senate Democrats are warning Republicans controlling Congress against adding billions of dollars for President Donald Trump's U.S.-Mexico border wall to an upcoming $1 trillion-plus catchall spending package.

The warning from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and others came in a Monday letter to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. The letter also warns against adding other "poison pills" such as provisions to roll back environmental or consumer protections and urges additional money for domestic programs to match the administration's planned Pentagon increases.

"We believe it would be inappropriate to insist on the inclusion of (wall) funding in a must-pass appropriations bill that is needed for the Republican majority in control of the Congress to avert a government shutdown so early in President Trump's administration," said the letter, which was provided to The Associated Press. Trump crisscrossed the country last year campaigning for the wall, claiming the he could convince Mexico to pay for it.

At issue is a huge package of leftover spending bills for the fiscal year that began back in October. Congress faces an April 28 deadline to complete the measure and avert a partial government shutdown. It's separate from Trump's upcoming partial budget submission for the 2018 budget year that begins on Oct. 1. That proposal is expected on Thursday.

The funding issue is sure to prove difficult to solve a partial shutdown of the government late next month appears to be a real possibility and would require a capacity for bipartisan compromise that hasn't be on display yet in the Trump era.

The letter from Democrats implicitly threatens a filibuster showdown if Republicans try to attach to the must-do legislation controversial Trump agenda items. Any filibuster and shutdown confrontation would spark a high-stakes political battle.

While the letter says it would be "inappropriate" to include money for the border wall, it says Democrats would "strongly oppose" other provisions, including moves against Wall Street regulations or even an attempt to "defund" Planned Parenthood. Schumer demurred when asked last week whether he would lead a filibuster over funding for the wall, but Monday's letter appears intended to show that Democrats are unified against the idea. Trump also is preparing a request for additional border control and immigration agents.

"All 12 appropriations bills should be completed and they should not include poison pill riders such as those that roll back protections for our veterans, environment, consumers and workers and prohibit funds for critical health care services for women through Planned Parenthood. We strongly oppose the inclusion of such riders in any of the must-pass appropriations bills that fund the government," the letter states.

Democrats' votes are needed to pass the measure through the Senate, unlike the chamber's agenda so far this year, including Trump's Cabinet nominees, a looming measure to "repeal and replace" the Affordable Care Act, and a spate of bills to repeal recent Obama administration regulations. But talks have barely begun, and the undermanned Trump administration has yet to weigh in with its expected request for money for the wall and Pentagon buildup.

Money for Trump's border wall is just the beginning of the political complications facing the must-do measure, which would advance as Republicans and Trump are grappling with their controversial health care law repeal. It could be difficult to avert a clash between Trump and Schumer, and tea party GOP forces are sure to be upset with whatever outcome Democrats eventually agree to.

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Democrats warn against funding border wall in catchall bill - SFGate

New York Times

Democrats' Line of Attack on Gorsuch: No Friend of the Little Guy New York Times The Democrats' approach also appears to be in keeping with the preference of some lawmakers to make the nomination as much a referendum on Mr. Trump as Judge Gorsuch, with ready parallels to the president's history as a profit-seeking boss and serial ... and more »

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Democrats' Line of Attack on Gorsuch: No Friend of the Little Guy - New York Times

Bob Smith, a Donald Trump supporter, enjoyed a meal during a visit to the Avenue Diner in Wyoming, Pa. For the first time in a lot of years, people have hope that things are going to turn around and things are going to get better, he said.

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. To understand the challenge facing Elizabeth Warren and other Democrats as they chart a path out of their Trump nightmare, you cant do much better than to spend a few minutes with the amiable fellow in a diner booth in blue-collar Pennsylvania, as he tucks into a plate of eggs-over-easy and sausage and ponders Donald Trump.

John Randazzo is a registered Democrat who twice voted for Barack Obama, whose 2008 visit to the Avenue Diner near Wilkes-Barre is memorialized with a plaque and a special red stool at the counter. In 2016, Randazzo was among Rust Belt defectors who helped put Trump in the White House the sort of voter who prompted the president to boast last month that he was giving the GOP a rebirth as the party ... of the American worker.

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I honestly feel that hes thinking like the average American right now, what he wants to get done, said Randazzo, 70, a retired hydraulics company manager who has watched the quality of life here slip as the decades passed. Im on board. I know hes trying hard.

He doesnt think much of the Democrats clamoring to win voters like him back.

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Daily updates and analysis on national politics from James Pindell.

Asked about Warren, Randazzo suggested that the Massachusetts senator, who is arguably the Democrats highest-profile advocate for the working class, is out of touch and lumped her in the same category as the entrenched House Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi.

Senator Warren took to Twitter to blast President Trumps decision to fire federal prosecutor Preet Bharara after he refused to resign.

Her and Pelosi, theyll never get my vote the way theyre acting, said Randazzo. They are completely the opposite of what Donald Trump stands for. He says one thing, they disagree and its the other thing, and its ridiculous.

Many Democrats believe Warren, who has emerged as a leader of Trump opposition, is their best emissary to win back 2016s Trump Democrats and that she may even be the one to take on Trump in 2020. There is certainly some evidence to support that notion in the Rust Belt.

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Love her. Love her. Love. Her, said Cindy Lefko, 57, branch manager at a bank in downtown Wilkes-Barre, who has lived in the area all her life and thinks the Massachusetts senator would absolutely help Democrats here. She stands for everything that I think the Democratic Party should stand for.

The political narrative about Warren is paradoxical: Republicans see her as a liberal albatross they can tie around the neck of the entire Democratic Party. The Senate GOP is pumping out ads targeting Democrats up for reelection in states Trump won by saying theyre in lockstep with the liberal Warren, not the hard-working people of their states, as National Republican Senatorial Committee spokeswoman Katie Martin put it.

Trump himself mocking Warrens claims of partial Native American ancestry reportedly taunted red-state Democrats visiting the White House that Pocahontas is now the face of your party.

Sean McKeag for the Boston Globe

Said John Randazzo, a registered Democrat: [Elizabeth Warren] and [Nancy] Pelosi, theyll never get my vote the way theyre acting. They are completely the opposite of what Donald Trump stands for.

The tug-of-war over Warren underscores the dueling halves of her resume. She hails from deep-blue Massachusetts and worked in the loftiest of all ivory towers, Harvard Law School, before she ran for the Senate.

But she grew up in conservative Oklahoma in a family that struggled financially after her father had a heart attack, an upbringing she credits with inspiring her career-long focus on what she calls leveling the playing field for middle-class families.

Theres a third facet to the Warren picture, one that presents an opportunity and a risk. Polls show that roughly a third of voters dont really even know who she is, meaning there is room to grow the numbers of her admirers but also room for her critics to build on their negative portrait.

Im not familiar with the name, said Maureen Snyder, a nurse who voted for Hillary Clinton, as she picked up her lunch in a downtown Wilkes-Barre deli. More than a dozen interviews found few who had much to say about Warren.

A March 7 Suffolk University/USA Today poll showed Warren was viewed favorably by 34 percent of respondents; an equal number viewed her unfavorably. Thirty-two percent said they either hadnt heard of her or didnt know enough to say. By contrast, only 8 percent of people in the poll said they didnt know how they felt about Trump. Forty-seven percent had a negative view of him.

For Warren to help Democrats wrest back control of government from the GOP, many believe they will need to figure out how to win back voters like Randazzo, who lives in Luzerne County, which straddles a long stretch of the Susquehanna River. Obama won this county by five points in 2012 and nine points in 2008. This past November, Trump crushed Clinton here by 20 points.

Warren thinks that Trump is hoodwinking everyday Americans and that his first months in the White House have proven it.

Talk is cheap, said Warren, bristling at Trumps claim on working-class voters during an interview. She pointed to Trumps Cabinet nominations such as Jeff Sessions for attorney general, who is currently embroiled in a controversy over whether he lied in his confirmation hearings about contact with Russian officials; Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, a former Wall Street banker; and fast-food CEO Andrew Puzder, who withdrew his nomination for secretary of labor after sustained criticism about his poor treatment of workers, among other issues.

These people, in her opinion, represent corporate interests, not average citizens. Trumps actions are what matters, not the words, she said.

Warren continues to be Trumps chief Twitter attacker, though he hasnt been returning fire as he did during the campaign. Shes been at the forefront of opposition to Trumps most controversial nominees. Her criticism of Sessions record of civil rights earned her a high-profile moment in the national spotlight after GOP leaders formally silenced her for breaking Senate rules.

Not all Democrats believe Warren can appeal to working-class voters outside of true-blue coastal bastions and among urban and campus elites. Former Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell, a Democrat, said Warrens words on their own would resonate with Trump Democrats, but she herself is seen as too liberal and too associated with the type of identity politics that turns off white, working-class voters.

Her message is a good one, theres no question about it, shes very good at attacking and stripping back the hypocrisy, he said. Im not sure shes the best messenger for that type of voter.

Warren resonates particularly well with female working-class voters, a subset that should be a priority for Democrats to win back, said Celinda Lake, an influential Democratic pollster. Warren ticks other items off Democrats must-do list, too: She energizes the base, and she has an unparalleled ability to explain the intricacies of the economy and how it all relates to real peoples lives, Lake said, arguing that Democrats would be smart to make Warren a prominent part of their messaging strategy.

She will be, I think, one of the point people on so many of the debates that are going to come up, she said.

Plenty of Democrats, both in Washington and out in middle America, see her as a populist gladiator, not a generic Massachusetts liberal. Warren has been an outspoken critic on trade deals, an issue that helped Trump, several local Democratic leaders noted in interviews.

Shes a warrior, said David Betras, chairman of the Mahoning County Democratic Party in a struggling swath of Ohios Rust Belt, where scores of once-proud Democrats cast ballots for Trump. They did so, Betras said, because he was a disrupter and he was antiestablishment. Elizabeth Warren has been a disrupter her whole life.

But so far on the industrial banks of the Susquehanna, Trump is retaining his legions of fans.

Trump is trying hard, was a refrain uttered again and again by his supporters here, including Bob Smith, a 64-year-old roofing contractor. He is in five to 10 homes a day for his work, and in those visits the Republican said hes detected a new level of optimism even in what he describes as a depressed area.

For the first time in a lot of years, people have hope that things are going to turn around and things are going to get better, said Smith.

Do I believe that hes going to be able to get everything done? No, but at least hes in the right direction, said Gary Polakoski, a retired foreman with the state transportation department. A registered Republican, Polakoski is a lifelong union member and considers himself a middle-of-the-road voter who likes that Trump is not a real Republican. He mimed holding his nose when describing his vote for former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney in 2012.

Polakoski praised Trumps plans to invest in infrastructure and his promises to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States. The president, he notes, is getting a lot of push-back from the establishment on both sides, the globalists who think the world is better by making things overseas, because they make more money.

If he does a quarter of what he sets off to do, Polakoski started.

It will be good, finished his friend Albert Mrackoski, 75, who also voted for Trump.

Even some who voted for Clinton said they wanted to see what Trump could get done. Hes our elected president, said Snyder, the nurse. Its time to settle down and work rationally and professionally. Unless he does something so wrong that he gets impeached, make the best of what we have.

Sean McKeag for the Boston Globe

Said Hillary Clinton supporter Maureen Snyder of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., in reference to Elizabeth Warren: Im not familiar with the name.

There are other challenges, for Warren and Democrats more broadly, in appealing to working class voters.

Some Democrats argue that Trumps appeal to white working class voters is rooted in more than his claim to offer hope to the discouraged blue-collar ranks. They say his success cannot be separated from the xenophobia and racism they say is threaded throughout his words and policies.

Mary Christopher is hoping Warren runs for president, but she is alert to the racial undercurrents that help drive some of Trumps support.

Thats my lady! Shes got the oompf and shes got the power. When she talks, everybody listens, exclaimed the 76-year-old African-American during her shift in the kitchen of a local senior center in Wilkes-Barre. She needs to run. She has a strong voice. She makes you know that she is for you.

Still, Christopher doesnt think Warren would do well against Trump in this area. She offered a blunt summary for why she thinks Trump did so well: This area is very racist.

See more here:
Could Elizabeth Warren win back 'Trump Democrats' in 2020? - The Boston Globe