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Patrick Semansky, Associated Press file

Democrats, reveling in President Donald Trumps plummeting popularity and the Republican Partys civil wars, are looking forward to September. Except for one thing: the rollout of Hillary Clintons next book right after Labor Day.

Clinton has promised to let my guard down in the book, What Happened, explaining her shocking loss to Trump in November. She has already offered up several explanations, blaming Russian interference, former FBI Director James Comey, and misogyny, while also acknowledging tactical errors by her campaign.

Many Washington Democrats, though unwilling to criticize her in public, wish shed move on, as Minnesota Sen. Al Franken has put it. They fear that her complaints help Trump make his case that the controversies surrounding him flow from the Democrats bitterness about their 2016 loss.

They prefer the approach taken by Al Gore after his equally controversial loss in 2000. Gore didnt really criticize the administration of President George W. Bush for almost two years even though he, like Clinton, won the popular vote while losing in the Electoral College. (Gore lost when the Supreme Court stopped a vote recount in Florida.) Gore went on to start a new career, winning a Nobel Prize and an Academy Award for his work on climate change.

Associates hoped Clinton would also find a way to make a different contribution, perhaps as a university president or foundation head. There have even been suggestions that she move overseas for a couple of years.

Clinton could make a contribution speaking out selectively on important issues, drawing on her wealth of experience.

But she remains haunted by her defeat. The gist of her message next month, based on her public statements and accounts of private conversations from people whove talked to her, will be: I accept the blame for what happened, but the bigger problems were Russian meddling, Comeys on-again, off-again handling of the FBIs probe of her private email server, the Democratic Party, and maybe even some of her own campaign staffers.

The Clintons, associates say, are convinced that the election was stolen. They may be right; well find out soon enough whether theres proof that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia. If investigations by congressional committees and special counsel Robert Mueller turn up new facts, thatll provide a better basis for analyzing the impact.

But Clinton is the wrong messenger. She just comes across as a sore loser.

Or as Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer told The Washington Post last month: When you lose to somebody who has 40 percent popularity, you dont blame other things Comey, Russia you blame yourself.

She could take a lesson from another prominent Democrat, one who has kept a relatively low profile since January. Thats former President Barack Obama, who has mostly resisted the temptation to strike back at repeated Trump cheap shots. Today, surveys of voters have found, hes the most popular American politician. Some Democrats want him to take on Trump a bit more, and are pleased hell be out campaigning for a few Democrats this fall.

By contrast, Clinton has moved from being an admired former New York senator and secretary of state to becoming a divisive and unpopular figure. In last months Bloomberg national poll, 58 percent of respondents rated her unfavorably compared to 39 percent who gave her favorable marks. More than one in five people who voted for her in November now regard her unfavorably. That was even worse than Trumps standing in the same poll.

Indeed, the only figure with higher negatives in the survey, which was conducted by the Iowa polling firm Selzer & Co., was her old nemesis, Russian President Vladimir Putin.

E-mail Albert R. Hunt at ahunt1@bloomberg.net. Follow him on Twitter: @AlHuntDC

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Democrats fret as Hillary Clinton book rollout looms - The Denver Post

BY: David Rutz August 15, 2017 12:00 pm

The longtime game show "Jeopardy!" trolled Hillary Clinton on Monday night with its category entitled "Baskets of Adorables."

The category depicted answers with pictures of cute animals like cats and sloths in baskets.

Host Alex Trebek drew laughter when he read out the category name. He added "uh-oh" after stating the title.

The category was a reference to Clinton's infamous remarklast September that half of Donald Trump's supporters belonged in a "basket of deplorables."

"To just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables," she said. "Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic, you name it But that other basket of people are people who feel the government has let them down, the economy has let them down. Nobody cares about them."

Clinton later said she was "wrong" to make those remarks.

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Jeopardy Trolls Hillary Clinton With 'Baskets of Adorables' Category - Washington Free Beacon

Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former U.S. presidentBill Clinton shook hands and posed for photos with people on the streets ofNorth Hatleyin Quebec's Eastern Townshipson Tuesday.

The pair, along with their daughter Chelsea and two grandchildren have been staying at Manoir Hoveyresort on the shores of Lake Massawippi this week.

"We're having a wonderful time, thank you, it's so beautiful," said Hillary Clinton.

Bill Clintonsaid the lake impressed him.

"It's beautiful, very interesting what's developed, what's not. And you know for most people it's a very deep lake, because it's a glacier lake," he said. "These are relatively rare.There are only a few lakes in America as deep as this. It's quite beautiful."

Radio-Canada reporterMarie-HlneRousseau asked him if he would be seeing former prime ministerJeanChrtienduring his visit.

"I haven't heard back from him, but you know, we're very close friends andI just was with him not too very ago, so I'm hoping he can come and be with me on my birthday," he said.

Clinton will be turning 71on Aug. 19.

Clinton said his plans were to do as little as possible on the tripexcept play with grandchildren and have a good time.

On Tuesday, Clinton strolled outside in North Hatley, stopping to shake hands, while Hillary Clinton browsed in some shops.

He was even drawn into a conversation about the U.S. politics, and emphasized the need for a high voter turnout in the next U.S. election.

"Hillary'sin there spending the money," a woman standing on the steps outside a shopteasedtheformer president as he went in an antiques store to find his wife.

"It's a good thing, it's her money too," he quipped back.

Author Louise Penny, who lives inKnowlton,invited theClintonsto the Townships for a visit.

Hillary Clinton has said she is a fan of Penny's murder mysteries, featuring InspectorGamache,a fictionalSretdu Qubecdetective. Penny was spotted with the Clintons on Tuesday.

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Hillary and Bill Clinton spotted shopping in Quebec's Eastern Townships - CBC.ca

Following a white nationalists rally that turned violent on Saturday in Charlottesville, former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton issued a statement on Twitter condemning white supremacists for inciting violence that may have led to the death of one person.

In a string of tweets, Clinton expressed empathy for residents of the Virginia town, home of the University of Virginia, writing: My heart is in Charlottesville today, and with everyone made to feel unsafe in their country.

Unlike President Donald Trump, who refused to pin responsibility of the violent exchanges between white nationalistgroups and counter-protesters, Hillary blatantly blamed white supremacy for the spread of hatred in America.

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But the incitement of hatred that got us here is as real and condemnable as the white supremacists in our streets. Every minute we allow this to persistthrough tacit encouragement or inaction is a disgrace & corrosive to our values, she wrote, adding, Now is the time for leaders to be strong in their words & deliberate in their actions.

Trump offered an official statement in regards to the altercations that ensued in Charlottesville on Saturday, writing on Twitter that there was no place for this kind of violence in America hours after Virginias Governor Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency in the town, putting an end to the rally. However, Trump failed to acknowledge white nationalists' role in the savagery that resulted in the injuries of multiple people in the small town.

Instead, during a press conference, the president said he condemns in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides. The comment and Trumps refusal to directly name white supremacist groups for inciting violence in Charlottesville--where a person drove a vehicle into a crowd of people injuring 19 people and killing one person--has resulted in a wave of criticism from all sides regarding his inability to stand up to racist white hate groups.

No matter our color, creed, religion or political party we are all Americans first. We love our country, we love our God, we love our flag, were proud of our country, were proud of who we are, Trump said. so we want to get the situation straightened out in Charlottesville and want to study it and see what were doing wrong in this country. We have to respect each other, ideally we have to love each other.

Following Trumps comments, a number of people took to social media to point out that the president has been vocally tougher on his Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and a number of other people than what he has been on white supremacists and neo-nazi groups.

Check out a few reactions below:

Excerpt from:
Hillary Clinton Condemns White Supremacist Groups For Inciting Violence, Trumps Says It's Coming From 'Many Sides' - Newsweek

Exclusive: President Trump has shattered the hope of many peace-oriented Americans that he would pull back from U.S. foreign interventions, but Hillary Clinton might have pursued even more wars, notes James W. Carden.

By James W. Carden

The alliance between neoconservatives and the Democratic foreign policy establishment, which is largely made up of former Obama administration officials and former Clinton campaign surrogates, has been much noted of late, particularly since the formation of the German Marshall Funds Alliance for Democracy Project which brings together high-profile members of both groups in an effort to fight what is loosely (and often inaccurately) defined as Russian disinformation.

Those who applaud the new alignment are quick to point out that Donald J. Trump who, by virtue of his volatile temperament and his alarming ignorance and inexperience, is a menace to his country and the planet. And at this stage in Mr. Trumps presidency, that would seem unarguable.

And yet, Clinton partisans charge that those who withheld their support from Clinton not only bear responsibility for Trump, but also had no right to do so since it was, according to them, obvious that Clinton would have been, among other things, a more responsible steward of U.S. foreign policy than Trump.

And so, given the extreme bitterness that Hillary Clintons loss has engendered among a number of prominent members of the liberal commentariat, it might be worth looking at what her campaign promised with regard to foreign policy to see if the above criticism holds water.

The argument here isnt that Trump isnt awful (which is something Ive never argued); its that hes proven to be every bit as bad as some of us reasonably expected Clinton would have been; and if one takes the time to consult the Clinton campaigns own briefing papers and fact sheets, one will find that on issue after issue, Clinton invariably took hawkish positions that reflected the fact that Clinton was (and remains) a saber-rattler par excellence very much on par with the current occupant of the White House.

When North Korea conducted a nuclear test in September 2016, she released a statement, if not quite promising fire and fury, that did declare: North Koreas decision to conduct another nuclear test is outrageous and unacceptable. This constitutes a direct threat to the United States, and we cannot and will never accept this.

No Regrets on Regime Change

Beyond that, Clinton remained a firm believer in regime-change strategies.On Syria, the Clinton campaign proposed instituting a coalition no-fly zone in the air coupled with safe zones on the ground to protect Syrian civilians and create leverage for a diplomatic resolution that includes Assads departure. She supported the deployment of special operating forces to Syria and strongly urged President Obama to arm moderate rebels in support of the eventual removal of the brutal Assad regime.

Clinton also favored escalation in other hot spots.On Iran, the Clinton campaign outlined a plan to counter Irans other malicious behavior which included pledges to deepen Americas unshakeable commitment to Israels security; expand our military presence in the region; increase security cooperation in areas like intelligence sharing, military backing and missile defense with our Gulf allies, to ensure they can defend themselves against Iranian aggression; and build a coalition to counter Irans proxies.

When we also factor in Clintons support for the NATOs illegal airstrikes on Kosovo (1999), her vote to authorize the second Iraq War (2003), her enthusiastic support for sending more troops to fight and die in Afghanistan (2009), and her disastrous embrace of regime change in Libya (2011) and Syria (2012), how can anyone be sure that her administrations foreign policy would have been much of an improvement over what we now have?

Indeed, those who threw their support behind Clintons vision of American world leadership, like those associated with the Alliance for Democracy, really, with the notable exception of Trumps abandonment of the Paris Climate Accord, have little to complain about.

Trump has done much as Clinton would have done by, among other things: slapping sanctions on Russia, Iran and North Korea; pledging unlimited support toIsrael; reassuring our allies in the Persian Gulf and eastern Europe; condemning Russias actions in eastern Ukraine; expanding military operations in eastern Syria; and lobbing none-to-veiled threats at the left-wing government in Venezuela.

So while its easy and almost certainly emotionally satisfying to the legions of Clinton supporters to tell themselves (and their readers) that of course Hillary would have been a better of steward of U.S. foreign policy than Trump, that assertion remains both unprovable and, given her record, highly questionable.

James W. Carden served as an adviser on Russia policy at the US State Department. Currently a contributing writer at The Nation magazine, his work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Quartz, The American Conservative and The National Interest.

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Hillary Clinton Promised Wars, Too - Consortium News