Either Mitt Is Running in 2016, or He Just Wants to Talk to a Lot of People

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JOHN FUND: Did Justice "steamroll the truth" in attempt to extort a settlement? The Scandals at Justice.

THE EDITORS: If the Iranians balk at Congress's sanctions bill, they're not serious. Put More Pressure on Iran

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: Anti-Semitism is on the rise in Europe, and in the Middle East a new Holocaust looms. The Final Solution: a Nuclear Iran

JILLIAN KAY MELCHIOR: There is evidence that many of our anti-oil-and-gas environmentalists are funded by Moscow. Russian Money, U.S. Energy.

SLIDESHOW: Drone Smugglers.

Morning Jolt
. . . with Jim Geraghty

January 30, 2015

Either Mitt Is Running in 2016, or He Just Wants to Talk to a Lot of People

Maybe by the time you read this, it will be official. But let's face it, you don't do the things Mitt Romney has done in recent weeks if you're not running for president.

Former Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney has made a decision on whether to go forward with a third presidential bid and will tell to supporters which way he is going in a Friday morning call, a source familiar with Romney's plans tells CNN.

Another Romney source said "the call is an 'update' call with finance, political, policy and grassroots leadership around the country." While Romney will not officially announce his plans for 2016, he will clarify whether he is moving towards a run or pulling back from the prospect.

The news of the call was first reported by Bloomberg News, which highlighted an email that went out to supporters Thursday night inviting them to dial in.

Halperin:

Those who have been helping Romney make up his mind say there are three factors in favor of a run, and two factors against. The main rationale on the "go" side is Mitt and Ann Romney's strongly held conviction that no one in the current field would make a better president. Critics in both parties and the press may scoff at this view, but the Romneys believe it to their core and thus feel Mitt has an obligation to his country to once again shoulder the mantle. Following his crushing defeat in 2012, Romney has deemed Obama's second term an utter failure, particularly on issues of national security and the domestic economy. Furthermore, those in Romney's orbit are convinced that Mitt is not just best qualified, but almost uniquely qualified to turn around the nation and help guide the world to safer pastures. The Romneys consider this assessment a clear-eyed, rational analysis of his skills as a manager and a leader, augmented by the sense of duty he was raised with in the Mormon faith.

For what it's worth, many, many fans of Mitt passionately disagree with my assessment from earlier in the week:

When people go up to Romney and tell him, "Governor, I really wish you had won in 2012," they're not saying, "Governor, I think you would have been one of the greatest presidents in our lifetimes." They're saying, "Governor, Obama is really, really, really terrible, and electing you would have spared the country a lot of pain."

Get ready for Mitt-mania, I guess.

The 'Just Wait and See, You're Going to Be Surprised' Presidency

Who could have seen this coming, other than everyone?

The U.S. military and intelligence community now suspect that one of the five Taliban detainees released from Guantanamo Bay in return for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl in May of last year has attempted to return to militant activity from his current location in Qatar, CNN has learned exclusively.

The first clue that the Taliban Five would attempt to assist the Taliban once released from Guantanamo Bay is the fact that they're called the Taliban Five.

The Morning Jolt, back on June 6:

Oh, I guess we can relax now.

The five senior Taliban leaders released to Qatar after years of detention at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are subject to strict bans on militant incitement or fundraising that might pose a danger to the United States, according to people familiar with the negotiations that freed American prisoner of war Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.

How is this enforced? If these guys begin fundraising or incitement, do the Qataris send them back to us? What about beyond the first year?

Indulge me a trip down memory lane; I want to share a vivid metaphor.

Back in 1995, the infamous Rich Kotite was coach of the New York Jets. At the time, the Jets were bad but not awful, but had only one really talented player of offense, the tight end Johnny Mitchell. The Jets stunned the world in the spring by using their first round draft choice on another tight end, Kyle Brady. This logjam at one position was deliberate, Kotite insisted. He declared he was going to use the double-tight-end formation as his standard offensive formation. Almost everyone else in the football world argued this wasn't going to work. No team had run a double-tight-end offense in years. Kotite scoffed at the doubters and urged the skeptics to watch. Just wait and see. You're going to be surprised.

The Jets went 3-13 that season. And 1-15 the year after that.

Yes, sometimes a lone genius will stand athwart the entire rest of the world and be proven right. But when everybody around you is telling you that you're wrong, there's a pretty good chance that you're wrong.

Just about everybody in the world -- including James Clapper and Leon Panetta! -- said the trade of Bergdahl for the Taliban Five was a bad idea.

And in the face of all of those counter-arguments, President Obama effectively said, Just wait and see. You're going to be surprised.

We're seeing a lot more of this defiant certitude in the president's second term. Remember his giant outstretched hand to Cuba? Remember how we were lifting a slew of travel restrictions and restoring diplomatic and economic ties to Havana, to enter a new, friendlier era of U.S.-Cuban relations?

Yeah, here's how that's working out:

Cuban President Raul Castro has demanded that the United States hand back its Guantanamo Bay military base -- an apparent bargaining tool in the restoration of full diplomatic relations between the countries.

Castro also asked for a complete lifting of the decades-old trade embargo and for compensation for its effects, saying that without these changes the recent diplomatic thaw "wouldn't make any sense." . . .

He also demanded the U.S. end the transmission of anti-Castro radio and television broadcasts and deliver "just compensation to our people for the human and economic damage that they're suffered."

We make more concessions, they make more demands. But the president is undeterred.

We're going to talk Iran out of its nuclear program in a series of summits in Switzerland. Just wait and see. You're going to be surprised.

We're going to defeat the Islamic State through a combination of intermittent high-altitude bombing strikes and training the Iraqi army. Just wait and see. You're going to be surprised.

We're going to get this bolder, more defiant, less predictable Russian state to cease its aggression against its neighbors through a series of sanctions. Just wait and see. You're going to be surprised.

We're going to overcome a steep, six-year decline in the median-income level of Americans by raising the minimum wage. Just wait and see. You're going to be surprised.

Barack Obama is the Rich Kotite of American presidents.

Beware of Suspicious Donkeys -- Not a Metaphor In This Particular Case.

Okay, Boko Haram, now you're really in trouble. Now you're irritating PETA.

Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram is plotting to use cattle as suicide bombers, officials have said.

Nigerian authorities also suspect that the extremist group, which aims at establishing an Islamic caliphate in the country, is preparing dozens of suicide bombers to carry out large-scale attacks.

Mike Omer, coordinator of the National Information Centre, said: "Available intelligence reports indicate a plan by Boko Haram to use young male suicide bombers disguised as cobblers to hide explosives in their tool boxes and detonate them on soft target areas such as markets, restaurants, ATM locations, political rallies, worship centres as well as other public places," according to Nigeria's Vanguard daily.

"Also, there is indication of a plan by this group to use livestock such as, goats, cows, donkeys and camels laden with explosives to attack chosen targets."

ADDENDA: Maybe the best edition of our pop-culture podcast yet arrives this morning -- a Super Bowl-themed show discussing the must-have foods at the holiday I nickname "Bar Food Thanksgiving," great and awful Super Bowl commercials past and present, and my perhaps way-too-passionate assessment of the planned all-female reboot of Ghostbusters and the rumored casting of Chris Pratt as Indiana Jones. Did you know producer Dave Perkins and I can have an entire conversation consisting entirely of quotes from Raiders of the Lost Ark? My poor co-host.

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