Blumenthal’s Bad Advice

Top government officials get a lot of advice from a lot of people. Cabinet officials have entire cadres of career civil servants dedicated to providing information and analysis.

In the case of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, we know from her publicly disclosed emails that she also relied heavily on outside, non-governmental sources, especially from one person — Sidney Blumenthal.

Mr. Blumenthal has been close confidant of the Clintons for decades. But the Obama White House blocked Mrs. Clinton’s attempt to hire Blumenthal as a top adviser at the State Department. So the Clinton Foundation hired Blumenthal at $10,000 a month.

What kind of information did Mr. Blumenthal provide to the secretary of state? As we reported [Tuesday], he offered a scathing critique of John Boehner. He shared information about impeaching Justice Clarence Thomas. He gave her advice on Libya and Benghazi.

He also passed along a lot of anti-Israel propaganda from his son, Max Blumenthal, who has seemingly dedicated his life to delegitimizing Israel.

In 2013, Max Blumenthal published a book that compared Israel to Nazi Germany. It was so outrageous that a columnist for the left-wing Nation magazine wrote that it “could have been published by the Hamas Book-of-the-Month Club.”

Last year, Max Blumenthal began comparing Israel to ISIS, adopting the disgusting Twitter hashtag #JSIL or “Jewish State in the Levant.”

Christie Goes Nuclear — Against Christians

During a Fox News Sunday interview, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was asked if Christians could be exempted from participating in same-sex weddings. The governor’s response was disappointing — a cramped definition of religious liberty that the radical left could applaud.

“Religious institutions should be able to decide how they conduct their religious activity,” Christie said. “The rest of the folks in the United States need to follow the law.”

So in Christie’s view, you can go to your church and worship freely. But once you step outside the church door, you have virtually no right to follow your faith. Sorry, Little Sisters of the Poor. You should expect no help from a President Christie in your fight against Obamacare’s contraception mandate.

Christie added, “I’m someone … who believes in law and order. I’m a former prosecutor… We need to enforce the laws of this country in every respect.” But we are arguing about what the law should be and the law is in flux.

The great wonder of America is that our commitment to religious freedom is so strong that we have routinely provided accommodations for religious liberty in our laws.

For example, conscientious objectors, based on their religious teachings, have been exempted from military service. The Amish have been given exemptions in a number of areas, including having to pay Social Security taxes.

In the case of same-sex marriage, most major faiths for thousands of years have taught that marriage was created by God and is the union of one man and one woman. This isn’t some sliver of opinion or a bizarre view. At least half the country still believes that.

Somebody should ask Christie whether he believes a New Jersey pizzeria owned by a faithful Catholic family should be required to cater a party hosted by radical feminists celebrating their abortions. In a truly tolerant society there would be room for that owner to say, “There are plenty of people who will serve you pizzas. But we are not going to celebrate abortion.”

Christie also said this week that we should watch out — he may “go nuclear” in the next debate. But I suspect for many values voters who care deeply about preserving our religious liberty, Christie already blew himself up.

Fiorina Wins Again

Carly Fiorina was widely viewed the clear winner of last month’s so-called “Happy Hour” debate on Fox News and many felt she outperformed the participants of the prime time Republican debate. She has since surged in the polls, yet she was at risk of being excluded from the next debate because of the arcane way CNN was ranking candidates.

Fiorina challenged CNN and the Republican National Committee to change the rules. Initially, they dug their heels in, each blaming the other. Technically, it was CNN’s decision to make and CNN finally relented. In a statement [Tuesday], the network declared:

“CNN reevaluated its criteria and decided to add a provision that better reflects the state of the race since the first Republican presidential debate in August. Now, any candidate who ranks in the top 10 in polling between August 6 and September 10 will be included.”

That virtually guarantees that Fiorina, who currently ranks seventh in the RealClearPolitics.com average of polls, will be on the stage at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library two weeks from today.