Election 2016

[jlw1980]

Bush too. No way America makes the same mistake THREE times, is there?

Jeb isn't as bad as his big brother, IMO. The elder Bush wasn't as bad, either. Much more moderate. I still don't like Jeb, but I don't find him as bad as GWB.

I actually think Cruz is the most electable of the three, even if it's kind of by default at this point.

I don't know. Read this and tell me what you think:

http://www.vox.com/2015/12/8/9866726...z-electability

It's really not surprising if you've gotten to know surgeons.

They're not to say, overrated, but they simplest difference between a surgeon and an equally, well educated doctor is how they handle the sight of blood. That's the primary reason that keeps the primary care or specialist in the private practice or doing rounds in the hospital. There are many justified reasons why seasons nurses are more valuable to well functioning medical facilities than doctors, too.

Having said all that, Carson's an idiot.

Your last sentence could get the thread locked, which would suck. Please don't do that.

I work at a hospital. I know the hospitalists better than the surgeons. The latter just seem more full of themselves. They all went through medical school, though. Your comments remind me of Scrubs, with Dr. Cox always talking about the surgeons being dumb jocks.

[Big_E]

Jeb isn't as bad as his big brother, IMO. The elder Bush wasn't as bad, either. Much more moderate. I still don't like Jeb, but I don't find him as bad as GWB.

GHWB was bad in his own ways. I remember him always sending foreign aid to Poland for their hungry and homeless or another country for this or that -- ignoring the hungry and homeless here in the US. I advocated NY seceding from the union, so he'd send some foreign aid our way, since he wasn't doing anything domestically...his one lasting accomplishment was signing the ADA.

Most historians put GHWB in the middle of all-time presidents. Somewhere in the mid 20s.

[Texsahara]

That is extremely disturbing. I'd like to see others' comments on this.

i'd like to hear the rest. I want to know she got to there and where she goes next with it. A little more context. But I can't find it. Just that clip.

[Big_E]

i'd like to hear the rest. I want to know she got to there and where she goes next with it. A little more context. But I can't find it. Just that clip.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/hilla...ry?id=35611247

The context:

[Hillary Clinton] said social media companies should help track and shut down suspected terrorist communication.

"We need to put the great disrupters to work in disrupting ISIS and stopping them from having this open platform for communicating with their dedicated fighters and their wannabes like the people in San Bernardino," Clinton said, referring to technology’s nickname as "the great disrupter."

The comments came during a question-and-answer session following her keynote address at the Brooking Institution's Saban Forum 2015 today.

"What we see right now I think is just the beginning of directed attacks and self-radicalization that leads to attacks like what we think happened in San Bernardino, and we’re going to have to ask our technology companies -– and Israel is leader in this area –- to help us on this," she said. "The government is good in some respects but nowhere near as good as those of you who are in this field."

The Democratic presidential frontrunner doubled down on earlier comments made to ABC’s George Stephanopoulos during an exclusive interview with "This Week" on Sunday about the need to ask technology companies whose social media platforms host ISIS and other terrorists’ communication, recruitment and planning to help, such as “very ubiquitous sites YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.

"The woman jihadist in San Bernardino posted her allegiance to Baghdadi and ISIS on Facebook," said Clinton. "We’re going to have to have more support from our friends in the technology world to deny online space, just as we have to destroy their would-be caliphate, we have to deny them online space and this is complicated.

"You’re going to hear all of the usual complaints....

[Jersey Yankee]

One certain blonde, rug-loving candidate will not be a very good Commander-In-Chief. So long as a certain group of people in the Middle East are constantly getting trashed by him, it'll never happen.

Say what you want about him, but one of Jimmy Carter's diplomatic claims to fame is being the co-recipient of the Noble Peace Prize, won alongside Israel's Menachem Begin and Egypt's Anwar el-Sadat. Seeing that the US of A has long been a mediator in truce in that region, I have no idea how that is possible if you're out there saying the most ridiculous things on how you'd be "tough" on those people.

When there is military conflict, diplomatic conflict, or talks of an oil embargo, etc, you will need your allies in Arabic countries, such as Jordan, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Syria, Somalia, etc.

[Nome]

GHWB was bad in his own ways. I remember him always sending foreign aid to Poland for their hungry and homeless or another country for this or that -- ignoring the hungry and homeless here in the US. I advocated NY seceding from the union, so he'd send some foreign aid our way, since he wasn't doing anything domestically...his one lasting accomplishment was signing the ADA.

Most historians put GHWB in the middle of all-time presidents. Somewhere in the mid 20s.

I remember in the early to mid 1990's when GHWB was in power, Lote of companies were downsizing because of the economy he couldn't improve.


I worked for Merck and in 1994 they wanted to have 2000 employees take an early retirement. I took it and it turned out to be the best decision I ever made. None the less GWHB constantly stated that we were in a mild recession when we were in a depression. The elder Bush was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and he never understood the plight of the normal citizens. For that I put him near the bottom of presidents. His son was far, far better in my mind because of how much I disliked his father.


The only thing I give Bush the elder for that was that he sky dived ate age 80. Nearing that age I am giving consideration to the same thing


Andy

[melon]

I'm now eligible to vote! Too bad I don't like anyone. .......

Good news! Now, there is one more candidate for you to consider!

[NyQuil]

The Republican primaries will certainly be interesting to watch with Trump.

Thanks, Maynerd, but if this thread lasts two months I'll be surprised.

A lot of the pot stirrers from the days of the old Soap Box are gone though.

[RYMASTER or Ryan_Yankees]

I tend to agree with your assessment, and I'll add that I was especially disappointed by how much he got done when he had legislative supermajorities and a bunch of political capital.

A large part of the problem is that he only had 60 Democratic Senate votes for a few months...don't forget that Al Franken didn't take his seat until July 2009 due to the recount, and then Ted Kennedy died in August of that year and the special election was won by a Republican. The window was very small, and even then he had people like Joe Lieberman to contend with.

[Soriambi]

Jeb isn't as bad as his big brother, IMO. The elder Bush wasn't as bad, either. Much more moderate. I still don't like Jeb, but I don't find him as bad as GWB.



I don't know. Read this and tell me what you think:

http://www.vox.com/2015/12/8/9866726...z-electability

I don't think elections are won on specific policy details, unfortunately. I wouldn't feel very comfortable if the election came down to Democrats needing to articulate to people why a 19% sales tax would be bad for them. Also, what he's said and has run on in the past and present don't necessarily need to match what he's going to be running on in the future or how he's going to be packaging it. Trump's main electability issue at this point, I believe, is that he has little to no room to morph. There are very few people who don't already have a strong opinion one way or another on Donald Trump, and the numbers just don't seem to be there for a general election win for him. Cruz still has room to sell himself to people as whatever he needs to.

[RYMASTER or Ryan_Yankees]

Jeb isn't as bad as his big brother, IMO. The elder Bush wasn't as bad, either. Much more moderate. I still don't like Jeb, but I don't find him as bad as GWB.

The Teri Schiavo affair leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

[Mr Coffee]

The Teri Schiavo affair leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

You probably could have phrased that better.

[jlw1980]

The Teri Schiavo affair leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

I had forgotten about his role in that case. Yeah, he sucks. This is a good article:

http://www.newyorker.com/news/amy-da...-terri-schiavo

[Jersey Yankee]

^^ I guess that John Ellis must've anointed himself "next of kin" status, in overruling her husband. ^^

[JL25and3]

The Republican primaries will certainly be interesting to watch with Trump.



A lot of the pot stirrers from the days of the old Soap Box are gone though.

I think some of them are back, or never left.

[Mr Coffee]

back, or never left.

[theDurk]

I don't think elections are won on specific policy details, unfortunately. I wouldn't feel very comfortable if the election came down to Democrats needing to articulate to people why a 19% sales tax would be bad for them. Also, what he's said and has run on in the past and present don't necessarily need to match what he's going to be running on in the future or how he's going to be packaging it. Trump's main electability issue at this point, I believe, is that he has little to no room to morph. There are very few people who don't already have a strong opinion one way or another on Donald Trump, and the numbers just don't seem to be there for a general election win for him. Cruz still has room to sell himself to people as whatever he needs to.

All this is pretty much a waste of time to talk about. When will people realize that the only way to identify the best candidate is to see who WINS on election day? The only thing any candidate NEEDS is to WIN. It makes absolutely no difference what election nor who they are, nor their age, race, color, or creed, nor how much money they have to spend.

Got it? I'm trying to think of a name for this concept. Any suggestions?

[JL25and3]

All this is pretty much a waste of time to talk about. When will people realize that the only way to identify the best candidate is to see who WINS on election day? The only thing any candidate NEEDS is to WIN. It makes absolutely no difference what election nor who they are, nor their age, race, color, or creed, nor how much money they have to spend.

Got it? I'm trying to think of a name for this concept. Any suggestions?

Some think we should use WAR to choose a Commander-in-Chief.

[philleotardo]

Some think we should use WAR to choose a Commander-in-Chief.

Or WHIP...

Terrible...time to go to bed.

[jlw1980]

This is awesome, though I don't like that they assume HRC will be the Democratic nominee.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/14/politi...ent/index.html

Since neither one of these guys would ever win the general election, this amuses me.

[RhodyYanksFan]

This is awesome, though I don't like that they assume HRC will be the Democratic nominee.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/14/politi...ent/index.html

Since neither one of these guys would ever win the general election, this amuses me.

Ted Cruz is the most despised Senator in the country. Both parties dislike him and his antics even though it goes over like crazy to the tea party idiots in Texas and around the country. He doesn't want to govern, he just wants to make sure that the other side doesn't govern either. Not saying he isn't a smart man, but he prides himself on his ignorance because it's ignorant people who support him.

He actively tried to shut down the government in October over the planned parenthood funding - meanwhile he knows full well no federal dollars go to fund abortions and abortions are 3% of what they do - but it riles up his base at the expense of his credibility in Washington.

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/0...enthood-214183

On Monday night, Cruz’s colleagues ignored his attempt to disrupt Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s efforts to fund the government without attacking Planned Parenthood. In an unusual rebuke, even fellow Republicans denied him a “sufficient second” that would have allowed him a roll call vote.

Then, his Republican colleagues loudly bellowed “no” when Cruz sought a voice vote, a second repudiation that showed how little support Cruz has: Just one other GOP senator — Utah’s Mike Lee — joined with Cruz as he was overruled by McConnell and his deputies.
It was the second time that Cruz had been denied a procedural courtesy that’s routinely granted to senators in both parties. The first came after he called McConnell a liar this summer.

[RhodyYanksFan]

[melon]

Today's Monmouth University poll has Trump with his biggest nationwide lead-27 points. Trump has 41% compared to Cruz at 14%. Wow, the establishment isn't gonna like this....

There have been big swings in polling. A recent poll from WSJ/NBC had Trump with a 5 point lead over Cruz.

The Monmouth poll was taken after Trump announced his plan on the temporary pause for Muslim visitors.

[melon]

There have been some calling for many of the lower ranking establishment candidates to drop out and rally around a single candidate (Rubio, Bush, Christie). This way they could defeat the outsiders by a higher consolidated total- in theory.

But the numbers don't add up. Here's the Monmouth numbers, but the other polls show the same numerical challenges for the establishment. Here, Trump/Cruz/Carson have 64% of the vote.

Trump.....41%
Cruz........14%
Rubio......10%
Carson......9%
Bush.........3%

[jlw1980]

There have been some calling for many of the lower ranking establishment candidates to drop out and rally around a single candidate (Rubio, Bush, Christie). This way they could defeat the outsiders by a higher consolidated total- in theory.

But the numbers don't add up. Here's the Monmouth numbers, but the other polls show the same numerical challenges for the establishment. Here, Trump/Cruz/Carson have 64% of the vote.

Trump.....41%
Cruz........14%
Rubio......10%
Carson......9%
Bush.........3%

It's hilarious yet sad. Funny because they'll never win a general election with Trump or Cruz. Sad because there are people who are hateful enough to support them.