Quote :

"We should just make me dictator"

couple more democratic noms on supreme court and the potus will basically be a dictator

[Edited on May 10, 2016 at 11:13 AM. Reason : s]

5/10/2016 11:12:28 AM

That is generally how republics die.

5/10/2016 11:29:34 AM

Don't be melodramatic. Voting isn't broken. This year has produced an unusually bad result because of a perfect storm of factors.

The economic recovery has been weak in general and almost nonexistent for a lot of people, who are understandably upset. If we were in the middle of a proper economic boom, Trump would have been laughed out of the room.

There's been close to eight years of Tea Party nonsense poisoning the minds of those disaffected people, convincing them that everything established is bad.

The Republican field was just too crowded early on. It split up the saner side of the Republican voting bloc. By the time we had pared down the number of candidates, Trump was on a roll, and momentum matters a lot in the primaries. People like to back a winner. Trump thrived in the chaos and suffered a lot more, particularly in the media, as the number of opponents went down.

The field was also particularly weak this cycle. Some were buffoons (Carson, Cruz). The more competent candidates lacked charisma (Graham, Bush) or name recognition (Kasich), or they were saddled down with too much baggage (Christie, Bush again). There also seemed to be an awful lot of entitlement, resulting in candidates who hadn't planned very well because they expected a cakewalk (Rubio, Christie, Bush). Nobody had a particularly compelling narrative or any claim to our sympathy. Trump couldn't have run his campaign against McCain, Dole, or Bush Sr. because he'd be bullying a war hero. He couldn't have run it against Nixon because Nixon was just as mean and many times more intelligent. He couldn't have beat Reagan because Reagan came in with the celebrity and a vastly superior communication style.

Basically, Trump could have beat Gerald Ford. But then again, so could Jimmy Carter.

The fact that Hillary was the presumed opponent probably didn't do the GOP any favors in terms of promoting sane, reasoned debate.

Trump also has a modern media edge that his opponents don't. That matters a great deal, but it is not a permanent advantage. If the Republican Party survives, it will start generating candidates who understand how to use the media landscape better. Trump has more than a decade of practice.

---

So what we have is an unusual circumstance in which a media-savvy loudmouth met with a swarm of weak opponents and an unusually receptive electorate. Even then, it was still a close-run thing. The fight would still be going but for a couple of (not very large or otherwise influential) states.

His "win" is pretty unimpressive, when you get right down to it. He didn't win the general, he won the nomination of the smaller party, and he won it with barely half of primary voters' support. He's reviled by electorates he would need to be President. No, the only way voting is broken is if he somehow wins in spite of all that.

5/10/2016 11:41:05 AM

Quote :

"our best strategy now should be to actually enforce the constitution so that the winner of the election wont have much power over us"

only the judiciary can do that, but that ship has sailed

nullification is our only option at this point, and that process has begun

[Edited on May 10, 2016 at 11:47 AM. Reason : das]

5/10/2016 11:47:05 AM

Quote :

" No, the only way voting is broken is if he somehow wins in spite of all that."

Quote :

"Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are effectively tied in the swing states of Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, according to the results of a Quinnipiac University survey released Tuesday. "

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/trump-clinton-florida-ohio-pennsylvania-222994

5/10/2016 12:08:21 PM

allow me to crib from twitter:

Q Poll Ohio sample is 4 pts. more white than 2012 Ohio exit poll; PA sample is 3 pts. more white and FL sample is 2 pts. more white.

did 2012 not provide definitive proof that polls skew R?

[Edited on May 10, 2016 at 12:11 PM. Reason : .]

5/10/2016 12:11:06 PM

also, always a good reminder to stick with the polling averages. which has Clinton up 6 in FL, 3 in OH, and 8 in PA.

5/10/2016 12:50:59 PM

Quote :

"I would really like to see how that would be implemented! Will US visa forms start having a field for religion? While passports of many Muslim countries have a religion field, what about Muslims from the ~150 non-Muslim countries? Where will they have to identify their religion? What about citizens of countries who can enter the US visa-free?"

They can ban all citizens of terror states from entering the US no matter what their religion is. They can reduce the number of work visas and student visas at least.

5/10/2016 8:27:46 PM

seriously, though

just sit this one out, champ

5/10/2016 9:21:49 PM

A not insignificant number of Texans want to secede. Can we ban them from crossing state borders too?

5/11/2016 11:00:10 AM

^^^Did this guy really graduate from NCSU????

5/11/2016 1:48:27 PM

Quote :

"Last night, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump won their respective primaries, getting us just a little bit closer to the Democratic and Republican conventions. And, in celebration of the blessed event, the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee sent out triumphant press releases… that did not mention their party’s winners. @sahilkapur (of Bloomberg): "DNC and RNC statements each make no mention of their own winner tonight." This is where we are, friends. We have the two major parties tearing each other down without mentioning their own primary winners. Bernie Sanders is upending what was supposed to be an easy coronation for Hillary. Meanwhile, Trump has been a stellar nominee already, what with putting a non-Republican white nationalist on his delegate list, talking about picking a Democratic vice president, making Chris Christie wear leather chaps, telling conservatives he doesn’t need them and that this isn’t their party, etc. Both parties, deep down, have to be ashamed at how this has played out, because it is incredibly embarrassing for two long-standing institutions like these to have voting bases that support raving lunatics on a whim. It’s almost as if the voters really do want to burn it all down…"

5/11/2016 5:43:20 PM

"Raving lunatics" seems a bit much.

5/11/2016 7:19:24 PM

Neither party has anything to be proud of at all. It makes sense that they'd spend all of their energy tearing down the other party rather than make any positive argument for why you should vote for them.

5/11/2016 7:58:17 PM

^Yep, that is all it is now, they say whatever needs to be said to get elected. After that they don't care.

5/11/2016 10:43:51 PM

After he was called a Renegade Jew by a Breitbart editor for his attempt to run a third candidate in November and it trended on Twitter, Bill Kristol has taken the Renegade term and ran with it.

https://twitter.com/RenegadeParty





So they have a name, they just need a candidate.

5/17/2016 10:32:31 PM

seems like as good a place as any to post this

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/15/opinion/sunday/when-did-optimism-become-uncool.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0

5/17/2016 10:59:33 PM

^^if only there were some Eisenhower Republicans still around.....Kristol damn sure isn't one.

5/17/2016 11:19:52 PM

^^ it's easier to rally and mobilize people to vote on fear and anger. For both sides...

5/18/2016 8:56:41 AM

Easier, yes. But not as effective. The Obama "Hope" campaign was incredibly powerful compared to "don't elect the black kenyan muslim." McCain didn't want his campaign to be about that but the republican base made it that way.

5/22/2016 12:59:23 PM

Quote :

"seems like as good a place as any to post this http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/15/opinion/sunday/when-did-optimism-become-uncool.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0"

Here's the problem though, Obamacare sucks and costs the middle class money. Cash for Clunkers was another waste of money. A lot of people were unhappy with the government stepping in to save GM and the banks. Now we have Bernie Sanders trying to promote government controlled health insurance and free college for everyone.

Don't like the liberals? Then vote for the conservatives who pre-Obama started a war in Iraq that has cost the tax payers trillions. Now we have Donald Trump wanting to build a wall on the Mexican Border, build up the military, repeal Obamacare, and lower taxes. Guess what, that won't save us money either. Any wall being built will involve tax dollars. His lowering of taxes plan is great, but is going to increase the national debt if we don't cut back funding on some programs and up our military spending. With the way our government works now, we are more likely to see more programs added than subtracted.

I think there is going to be a lack of optimism until government at all levels chills out, quits wasting money, and quits sticking its nose in everyone else's business.



[Edited on May 22, 2016 at 9:17 PM. Reason : .]

5/22/2016 9:06:52 PM

Gary Johnson is polling at ~10% against Trump and Clinton. 15% and he'll be invited to debates.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/pay-attention-to-libertarian-gary-johnson-hes-pulling-10-vs-trump-and-clinton/

5/24/2016 2:49:18 PM

Would love to see Johnson in the mix... would make things interesting.

5/24/2016 3:55:42 PM

A third party getting on the debate stage would be huge this election, with Trump and Clinton holding the first and second lowest approval ratings ever. Johnson would steal votes from both of them.

5/24/2016 4:15:54 PM

Trump bringing up Vince Foster. What world is it acceptable for a candidate for president to be involved in crazy conspiracy theories.

5/24/2016 4:24:00 PM

he wasn't the republican candidate for president then, but he was the King of Birthers

today was the first time I've seen that brought up nationally since he became the presumptive nominee

[Edited on May 25, 2016 at 12:10 AM. Reason : .]

5/25/2016 12:09:34 AM

I'd love to see any libertarian on the debate stage, but Austin Petersen is much better at articulating the message than Johnson. I hope the delegates at the convention see that.

5/25/2016 8:09:13 AM

Elmers, Brannon and Holding just need to get in an octagon and duke it out.

I'm so sick of hearing the adds for all three. They are the most insane political ads I've heard in a while.

6/4/2016 8:34:06 AM

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/08/us/politics/paul-ryan-donald-trump-gonzalo-curiel.html
Paul Ryan Calls Donald Trump’s Attack on Judge ‘Racist,’ but Backs Him Still


LOL... he's at least the 4th GOPer to call Trump racist so far. Kind of they're still backing him. We're definitely in a bizarro universe.

Seems like the entire GOP is following Trump's strategy of trying to spear-fish the white male demographic, and hope this is enough to win elections?

Looks like recent polls are starting to swing back to Clinton:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/us/general_election_trump_vs_clinton-5491.html

[Edited on June 7, 2016 at 3:59 PM. Reason : ]

6/7/2016 3:47:40 PM

Maybe this should go in the GOP credibility thread but I'm trying to wrap my mind around Paul Ryan, the recently elected speaker of the house, the man once thought to be the intellectual center of the GOP, the guy who was supposed to be a bridge for millennials, calling his own presidential choice a racist but not changing his endorsement, in the year 2016. One of the top republicans openly endorsed a racist in 2016.

I know we've had discussions in the past about the GOP being racist.

Is there any republican or conservative here willing to decode what this means in the big picture? Is it just accepted now that republicans are racist but it doesn't matter, people who value civil rights should just vote for them anyway for other policies?

Seems massively hypocritical too of the GOP, that called Obama "divisive" and tried to paint the half-white, raised by his white mom and grandma guy as anti white.

6/7/2016 6:45:10 PM

I'm not a Republican, but it's clear he has zero integrity. He endorsed him before the comments, but it would be political suicide to take back his endorsement now. I kinda wonder if some people in the GOP would actually prefer a Clinton presidency at this point to Trump.

6/7/2016 6:58:51 PM

I'd say, without a doubt, there are many that would prefer Hillary. Then they could sit back and play the same obstructionist game that they played with Obama. It riles their base and keeps the donations and votes in off-presidential years coming. "We are the only thing standing in the way of socialism and lawless presidents!!!!!!" Is such an easier play than "here is our carefully crafted legislation that should achieve x, y, and z.". The GOP NEEDS Hillary. If only to pass the time with invented scandals instead of actually legislating.

What is truly ironic to me for this whole Trump/Mexican Judge fiasco is Lindsey Graham. The same guy that is endlessly belittled as limp-wristed by late night talk show hosts clearly has the most SPINE of anyone in the GOP congressional delegation. John McCain, Seriously? Rand Paul drops off the face of the earth. Paul Ryan as mentioned. Nope, only Lindsey has the balls to go out of his way to call trump out and is basically asking Trump to retaliate so they can go toe to toe.

6/7/2016 10:07:40 PM

Quote :

"He endorsed him before the comments, but it would be political suicide to take back his endorsement now."

dude made plenty of racist comments before this latest one

[Edited on June 7, 2016 at 10:51 PM. Reason : whoops]

6/7/2016 10:40:14 PM

yeah he's made plenty of racist/sexist/misogynistic comments, but he does what he just did today: he says his words were misconstrued and blames the media.

6/7/2016 11:01:57 PM

Quote :

"yeah he's made plenty of racist/sexist/misogynistic comments, but he does what he just did today: he says his words were misconstrued and blames the media. "

But this is only going to work with swing voters for so long.

And when you have top GOP leaders like McConnel and Ryan quoted, on video, bashing Trump, this is going to be used in ads for the rest of the campaign.

Not to mention, Trump has had this same demeanor for at least 30 years at this point, he's going to fall back into his old self. If he doesn't have another bout of racism/sexism/xenophobia in the next week, maybe he has some hope, but this seems doubtful.

[Edited on June 8, 2016 at 12:19 AM. Reason : ]

6/8/2016 12:18:51 AM

Rasmussen, noted for its R bias has a 1000 LV poll every week and Clinton has swung +9 in 3 weeks.

Seems the issues with Trump are taking a toll.

Tells us nothing with regards to how November will go this early but interesting to see of trends force Trump to change his act and listen to his advisors.

6/9/2016 11:47:55 AM

everybody complaining about the election while supporting the candidates they are complaining about

6/9/2016 1:19:09 PM

Quote :

"Seems like the entire GOP is following Trump's strategy of trying to spear-fish the white male demographic, and hope this is enough to win elections?"

That's hardly "Trump's strategy." White male voters have long been the bedrock, foundation, pillars, and probably most of the roofing shingles on the GOP. The party isn't shifting focus to white guys, white guys just shifted what seems to matter to them.

And it's the party's own fault. They've spent decades decrying government -- government of which they themselves are a part. They've spent the past eight years specifically demonizing "the establishment," or at least allowing the Tea Party to do so. Again, an establishment they're in. They've strung people along with immigration, going back to that poisoned well over and over again for thirty years (that being exactly as long as it's been since Reagan, whoops, granted everybody amnesty). They keep using that to rile people up and then refusing to do anything about it. They've also spent the last fifteen years, but really the last eight, hinting or outright declaring a uniquely Muslim threat to us all.

And all of these tactics have been successful at what they were intended to do, which is grind the Obama administration to a halt. But then they kept being more successful still. Now there's a significant portion of the white male electorate primed to hate the government, both sides of the aisle, to deplore anything "establishment," frothing at the mouth with nativism and in hysterics over Islam.

Quote :

" I kinda wonder if some people in the GOP would actually prefer a Clinton presidency at this point to Trump."

I've heard people say this, and if I were still in the party it's how I would feel. Donald Trump as president? Jesus. Midterms are usually hard on Presidents, but Trump is giving downballot candidates the willies now -- imagine how much worse things would be in 2018. By 2020 the party may have lost congress, some governorships and state legislators, and it's hard to imagine how he could possibly manage a legitimate second term. If implemented, his policies would lead to national disaster. If ignored, they would alienate his base. Either way, you now have democrats in control of every branch of government except maybe the Supreme Court, and I bet most of the liberals on the bench could hold out for four years. And the democrats have some heavy hitters waiting in the wings, contenders with a lot more going for them than Chris Christie or (ugh) Jeb Bush ever did.

You know whose Senate term is up in 2019? Cory Booker. You know, the wildly-popular, eloquent former mayor of Newark who is blacker than Obama and routinely does shit like rescue people from burning buildings. Fuck me, he'd win 50 out of 50 states. One of the electoral college guys would have to abstain to keep him from matching George Washington's perfect record.

But President Hillary Clinton...that's another matter. Unless she pulls some policy rabbits out of her hat, she looks real beatable in 2020. The GOP is practiced in the art of "not letting the President do anything," so the "damage" she could do is limited. And in spite of Hillary Derangement Syndrome, she's a relatively moderate character anyway. The GOP cleans up in midterms and gets four years in which to find a Presidential candidate whose IQ is higher than their shoe size. And, not to overstate the importance of this at all, it seems unlikely that any of the good democratic candidates would mount an insurgent campaign against Clinton -- so that's four more years to hope that Cory Booker gets caught with his penis in a choir boy or something.

In short, I see serious long term disadvantage to the GOP if Trump wins, and serious potential for mid- to long-term gains if Clinton wins. Even a rabid Republican could agree with that assessment, and though it won't change their votes I'm sure many do see it that way -- what point to changing the vote, when he *seems* sure to lose?

[Edited on June 9, 2016 at 8:59 PM. Reason : ]

6/9/2016 8:56:24 PM

Quote :

"Maybe this should go in the GOP credibility thread but I'm trying to wrap my mind around Paul Ryan, the recently elected speaker of the house, the man once thought to be the intellectual center of the GOP, the guy who was supposed to be a bridge for millennials, calling his own presidential choice a racist but not changing his endorsement, in the year 2016. One of the top republicans openly endorsed a racist in 2016."

Politics is like sports now. You follow your team and support them no matter how much they cheat, or play dirty. He is a republican, so he has to support the party no matter what. At the same time he has to call Trump a racist though, so people don't think he is. Politicians in both parties say whatever they need to say to boost their approval ratings today.

6/9/2016 9:18:02 PM

6/10/2016 2:01:03 AM

Posting a stupid collage, right after a B4C post. Shots fired.

6/10/2016 2:12:14 AM

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/for-blacks-and-hispanics-the-economic-glass-is-still-half-full/

It's kinda concerning whites are less optimistic. I'm sure right wing media and people like trump telling people to be afraid doesn't help.

Trump was just saying in a speech recently that crime was up but this is generally untrue.

6/10/2016 10:17:23 AM

^That article makes sense though. Obamacare screwed over white middle class America, but helped some poorer minorities. White people aren't happy about the handouts that minorities are getting.

Stuff like this pisses us off...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3623706/Mother-Zika-baby-born-New-Jersey-says-flew-America-seek-treatment-doctors-Honduras-underestimated-symptoms.html

6/10/2016 7:58:43 PM

Well, I think ^ is idiotic, but there is an important segment of white America for which the outlook isn't so great.

A big chunk of the middle class relied on well-paying manufacturing jobs that have either left the country or been usurped by machines. Anybody who lost or aspired to one of those jobs is disappointed and probably shit out of luck. Here I think the problem isn't that people are less optimistic, it's that their previous expectations were too optimistic. In the information age, it's not realistic to expect middle-class wages and benefits for low-skilled manufacturing or service work. In some cases it's not even realistic to expect the work to exist.

And although job and income numbers seem to be moving in a positive direction, it has taken them a long time to do so. If you're on the lower end of the economic spectrum, that might be enough to give some optimism -- some work is better than no work. If you're accustomed to a higher (perhaps inflated) position, then the weak recovery is no great shakes.

6/12/2016 11:01:04 AM

https://teechip.com/tyrone

6/12/2016 4:37:58 PM

^^Well said. I think a part of the problem with white middle class America is there are a lot of them that are self employed and hover around that $50,000 a year income range. They don't get to live the high life all of the time, but make too much money to qualify for a lot of the government assistance programs. Plus their children don't qualify for minority scholarship. Pre-Obamacare a white friend of mine who runs his own business and makes over $50,000 a year was paying something like $300 a month for health insurance and had a great plan. Once Obamacare started the best he could find was $1,200 a month with a $10,000 deductible and he makes too much to qualify for government subsides. OTOH, dirt poor minorities get excited anytime they get a small raise in their hourly wage.

[Edited on June 12, 2016 at 5:54 PM. Reason : .]

6/12/2016 5:52:30 PM

^ The coverage issue outlined here is something I want to learn more about. I was an independent contractor when the law changed and my coverage went from 180/month thru blue cross for shit coverage to 350/month for decent insurance through health republic.

Is it bc I live in New York?

6/12/2016 11:28:52 PM

the max out of pocket for a marketplace plan is $6,850

6/13/2016 9:16:17 AM

"friend of mine"

Also, I don't think being excited about a raise is limited to "dirt poor minorities".

6/13/2016 9:38:47 AM

Quote :

"Well said. I think a part of the problem with white middle class America is there are a lot of them that are self employed and hover around that $50,000 a year income range. They don't get to live the high life all of the time, but make too much money to qualify for a lot of the government assistance programs. Plus their children don't qualify for minority scholarship. Pre-Obamacare a white friend of mine who runs his own business and makes over $50,000 a year was paying something like $300 a month for health insurance and had a great plan. Once Obamacare started the best he could find was $1,200 a month with a $10,000 deductible and he makes too much to qualify for government subsides. OTOH, dirt poor minorities get excited anytime they get a small raise in their hourly wage. "

So are you arguing for more handouts to higher-income people...?

6/13/2016 11:47:42 AM