NEWS AND OPINION:
The mainstream media appears to be in uncharted territory. Some journalists wonder if Hillary Clinton will remain in the presidential race following her campaign’s disclosure that she has pneumonia. NPR correspondent Cokie Roberts has already suggested that vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine be ready to replace Mrs. Clinton. And his new running mate? Vice President Joseph R. Biden, says Ms. Roberts
“This isn’t the 1840s. Clinton, a rich and powerful figure with access to the best medical care in 2016, will recover from this, her most torrid pneumatic episode,” counters Slate staff writer Jim Newell. “She is not dropping out of the race because she got pneumonia, and there will be no real push for her to do so,”
Some still hearken to the call of Sen. Bernard Sanders.
“It’s not too late for Bernie to save the Democratic Party. If Democrats truly want to win, they’ll rally around Bernie Sanders before Election Day,” declares H.A. Goodman, a contributor to The Huffington Post. “If Hillary Clinton cares about the future of this country, she’ll hand the nomination to Vermont’s senator.”
Meanwhile, fissures continue to grow in what was once a solid wall of media support for Mrs. Clinton, now recovering at her home in Chappaqua, New York.
“If you can’t trust her about how she feels, what can you trust her about? This was not simply a lack of transparency, this was borderline deception. They said simply that she was overheated. They said that she was feeling fine. Then you find out she had been diagnosed with pneumonia. Not a good day on the transparency front,” ABC News White House correspondent Jonathan Karl told “Good Morning America” host George Stephanopoulos.
GRACIOUS MOMENT
“I hope she gets well, gets back on the trail — and we see her at the debate.”
— Donald Trump’s wishes for Hillary Clinton in the aftermath of her aforementioned medical episode, to Fox News. The first sanctioned presidential debate is Sept. 26.
IT’S OK, TAKE A COOKIE BREAK
In the middle of a particularly grim stretch of the presidential election, here’s a handy distraction. Inside the Beltway has obtained Melania Trump’s recipe for “Star Cookies,” courtesy of Family Circle. The magazine has tracked the cookie-making preferences of first ladies and presidential nominee’s wives for quite some time. Without further ado, here’s Mrs. Trump’s recipe, verbatim. It makes four dozen cookies.
Ingredients: 2 cups of flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened; 1 cup of confectioners sugar, 2 eggs yolks, 1 egg white, 2 tablespoons sour cream.
Combine flour and baking soda. Set aside. Beat butter and sugar until blended. Add egg yolks, egg white and sour cream. Beat until smooth. Beat in flour mixture until dough just comes together. Form into two disks, wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 30 minutes.
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out one disk on liberally floured wax paper with a floured rolling pin to 1/8-inch thickness. Using a 2 1/2-inch star cutter, cut out star shapes and place on a wax paper-lined baking sheet. Repeat with second disk. Gather up scraps, form into a disk and refrigerate. Bake 10 minutes per batch, until lightly golden. Slide cookies onto a cooling rack and cool. Reroll chilled scraps, cut out additional stars and bake.
$1 MILLION BOOST FOR BURR
John R. Bolton has championed scores of “national security candidates” in the past, and continues to do so. The John Bolton PAC will make a $1 million independent expenditure to support Sen. Richard Burr’s re-election campaign in North Carolina, the funds destined for ad buys on major social media and broadcast sources in the state.
“Richard Burr has been an exceptional leader who has proven his commitment to keeping America safe through strong national defense policies,” says Mr. Bolton, praising the chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence for his pushback against terrorism, Russian aggression and the Obama administration’s Iran deal.
Mr. Burr’s opponents are former Democratic state representative Deborah Ross and Libertarian hopeful Sean Haugh.
“This is the wrong time to trade an expert on terrorism for an amateur, which is why we need Richard to continue his great work in the Senate,” adds Mr. Bolton.
PROBLEMS, WHAT PROBLEMS?
The ongoing troubles with Obamacare are mounting. The Congressional Budget Office has revealed that the health care overhaul cost $136 billion more than predicted, even as major insurers leave the plan and premiums rise as much as 76 percent. Are the big three broadcast networks covering this? Well, no.
Newsbusters.org analyst Mike Ciandella looked at eight months of coverage on the evening news programs at NBC, ABC and CBS from Jan. 1 to Aug. 31, and here’s what he found:
“During the entire year, ABC World News Tonight and NBC Nightly News have yet to give the floundering program any coverage at all, while CBS Evening News only found time to cover two of the Obamacare updates — and that only added up to 2 minutes and 18 seconds of coverage,” Mr. Ciandella says.
To put that in perspective, he adds, Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte warranted almost 47 minutes of coverage in the days following his difficulties with Brazilian police.
POLL DU JOUR
• 85 percent of federal IT managers say the “urgency to prevent cyberthreats” is increasing.
• 81 percent say these threats are growing more sophisticated; 79 percent say they are more frequent.
• 57 percent say improved employee training is now critical.
• 50 percent say their agency’s current cybersecurity efforts are “very effective.”
• 33 percent give their agency’s cybersecurity “posture” an “A.”
Source: A MeriTalk survey of 150 federal IT executives who oversee cybersecurity, conducted July 1 to July 31 and released Monday.
Chatter, happy talk to jharper@washingtontimes.com
• Jennifer Harper can be reached at jharper@washingtontimes.com.
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