US Elections 2016

[Gorth]

You guys should just apply for Commonwealth membership and accept Queen Elizabeth II as your rightful head of state

[BruceVC]

You guys should just apply for Commonwealth membership and accept Queen Elizabeth II as your rightful head of state

Oh Gorth...u naughty  

[Namutree]

You guys should just apply for Commonwealth membership and accept Queen Elizabeth II as your rightful head of state

No.

[Meshugger]

A friendly reminder: Microsoft is providing the technology used to count the votes in Iowa. I wonder who they have supported financially during this election...

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

The correct analogy here would be castigating Thomas Jefferson for holding slaves while expressing admiration for slave holding societies.

 

 

Not really. The most applicable analogy would be like criticising someone who praised the early US, particularly the South, who did not want to implement slavery. Which as someone who lives in Texas you should know is a good portion of the population and Republican base. Are you triggered everytime someone with a confederate flag or with a hardon for 1776 doesn't also want to put a few people in chains?

 

And while all these semantics are interesting, is Bernie's "foolishness" because he opposes surveillance and supports privacy or because he said some nice things about the Soviet Union?

 

 

https://theintercept.com/2016/01/31/the-bernie-bros-narrative-a-cheap-false-campaign-tactic-masquerading-as-journalism-and-social-activism/

 

Glenn Greenwald about false accusation tactics used by established journalists against Sanders, where something interesting popped up: 

 

 

Now, this sounds eerily familiar to how journalists handled another scandal in gaming, doesn't it?

 

 

 

Moviebob calls it right.

[Barothmuk]

.... the ****?

[Amentep]

 

.... the ****?

 

 

I can only guess its a reference to Movie Bob's Twitter picture...?

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

 

.... the ****?

He wrote a book about Mario and cosplays afaik.

[Barothmuk]

I like this Bernie bro thing. Hilary's going to win the election and she's going to piss off a ****-tonne of people doing it.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Ideally Bernie grabs the popular vote in either the primaries or the general but loses due to superdelegates or something. Hillary or Cruz will bring almost as much acceleration as the Donald anyways.

[Barothmuk]

Hillary or Cruz will bring almost as much acceleration as the Donald anyways.

She's certainly upped the ante. Initially thought a Clinton victory would result in passive acceptance but now that she/her fans are actively antagonizing a huge chunk of the left I suspect there's going to be a lot more friction.

 

Also checked Moviebob's twitter:

 

 

Oh boy.

[Raithe]

[Bartimaeus]

 

ye' gods, it's impossible to find this song on youtube in non-garbage quality, that shows the whole clip, and doesn't start like a minute behind. I give up

Edited February 2, 2016 by Bartimaeus

[Wrath of Dagon]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/how-the-gops-dishonesty-led-to-the-rise-of-donald-trump-and-ted-cruz/2016/01/28/d0bfdf8c-c5fb-11e5-a4aa-f25866ba0dc6_story.html

 

Guys I have mentioned this before, if you don't watch Fareed Zakaria on CNN on the GPS show then you should read his very informed opinion pieces. The guy must  be one, if not the, most erudite, insightful political commentators in the world. He also has a wide range of highly respected  people from around the who regularly comment on his show 

 

Anyway read his views on the GOP race

As usual Zakaria doesn't know what he's talking about, or know anything about American politics. His theories don't take into account the huge Republican victories in 2014, and he doesn't seem to know the Republicans (with Clinton) did welfare reform and reduce the welfare rolls by half. What's really going on is a fight between nationalists vs globalists, establishment vs populists, business interests vs working people interests. Republican establishment does lie to their base, but what they lie about is being the extension of the Chamber of Commerce.

 

Edit:

 

 

The correct analogy here would be castigating Thomas Jefferson for holding slaves while expressing admiration for slave holding societies.

 

Not really. The most applicable analogy would be like criticising someone who praised the early US, particularly the South, who did not want to implement slavery. Which as someone who lives in Texas you should know is a good portion of the population and Republican base. Are you triggered everytime someone with a confederate flag or with a hardon for 1776 doesn't also want to put a few people in chains?

 

If someone said the Confederate society or the 1776 society was superior to ours, you would indeed have to wonder about such a person. Sanders didn't praise Soviet space achievements, he praised Soviet society, quite a big difference.

And while all these semantics are interesting, is Bernie's "foolishness" because he opposes surveillance and supports privacy or because he said some nice things about the Soviet Union?

Supporting privacy isn't foolish, but admiring Soviet society, thinking that Socialism can work, or opposing surveillance when it's used for national security is indeed foolish. Edited February 2, 2016 by Wrath of Dagon

[Calax]

You mean those victories when the US had the absolutely worst voter turnout ever?

[Barothmuk]

[Guard Dog]

With 99% reporting Clinton has defeated Sanders by just 11 votes. This primary is going to be fun to watch. Hillary is going to go bat**** now that the mantle of inevitability is gone.

 

Cruz won on the GOP side but the split between him, Trump & Rubio was almost three way. The big winner here is Rubio I'd think because he did better than expected. Plus as the other "establishment" types start to drop out (which will probably start tomorrow) he will gain the majority of their support. I read Carson may drop out tomorrow but I'd guess Cruz stands to gain most of his supporters.

Edited February 2, 2016 by Guard Dog

[Guard Dog]

Calax did you go today? If so how was it?

[Calax]

With 99% reporting Clinton has defeated Sanders by just 11 votes. This primary is going to be fun to watch. Hillary is going to go bat**** now that the mantle of inevitability is gone.

 

Cruz won on the GOP side but the split between him, Trump & Rubio was almost three way. The big winner here is Rubio I'd think because he did better than expected. Plus as the other "establishment" types start to drop out (which will probably start tomorrow) he will gain the majority of their support. I read Carson may drop out tomorrow but I'd guess Cruz stands to gain most of his supporters.

I don't think Hillary will lose it. I think Bill broke a touch during that speech but in general she seems like she's in it for the long fight.

 

I think Rubio is gonna end up as the Republican Nominee. Cruz can't take the north-eastern republicans (the more cosmopolitan groups who are less "GOD IS GREAT" and more "Spending probably needs to be curtailed") and doesn't have the broader appeal that Rubio (or even Trump) could pull in. And there's gonna be some rediculous thing that happens with Trump that'll knock him out of the race.

 

That said, I'm pretty sure they're gonna have fun with Winter Storm Kayla... (**** working in the morning is going to SUUUUUCKKKK)

[Guard Dog]

I can live with that. I'd rather have Rubio than Trump or Cruz.

[Leferd]

Looks like it's going to be a Clinton v Rubio showdown in November --just as the futures betting market predicted. http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/82042-democalypse-2016/?p=1756393

 

Of course, Democrat party leaders were hoping Trump or Cruz will still win the Republican nomination which could lead for an easier win for Clinton. But the strong showing by Rubio shows that the Republican establishment may just very well have enough to save itself fro the lunatic fringe.

[Hurlshort]

Hmm...I'll need to read up a bit more on Rubio, but I think I recall him having some decent stances.  He definitely comes across as less loony than Trump or Cruz, which will make a huge difference in the general election.  

[Bartimaeus]

"Sanders's camp says that the Iowa Democratic Party has informed the campaigns that the caucus results from 90 precincts are missing."

[Rostere]

Okay guys, let's make predictions for the Iowa caucus. I think Trump will end up winning at around 25%, but with a smaller margin than many polls have predicted to Cruz. Cruz and Rubio will be nipping at his heels, both above 20%, with Rubio having the most momentum from previous polls, which will be the most noteworthy result. Carson at slightly below 10%, with Paul immediately below him. The rest pick up the scraps at the bottom.

 

So it seems that the Curse of Iowa struck once again. Cruz can now be added to the crowd of Huckabee and Santorum, unviable candidates who have surprisingly won Iowa through a surge of religious voters. Anyways, in other regards everything went as expected. As I see things there are both pros and cons with these results.

 

Con: Cruz won. Not a nightmare scenario, but still. Pro: Proportional allotment of delegates, so he doesn't get all of them.

Pro: Bush and Christie got really low results. Con: The people who could have voted for them have coalesced around Rubio instead. This went faster than expected, I would have hoped that all of them would be stuck in internal conflict for much longer. Bush + Rubio is still a scary amount of voters.

Pro: Carson got below 10%. Con: Because of proportional allocation of delegates, he does not walk away empty-handed.

Pro: Rand Paul got some votes, and even a delegate. Con: He might have stolen votes from other interesting candidates, such as Trump, who are more viable in the long run.

 

Pro: Hillary got stumped on any great victory and had to settle for a tie. Con: Even though Bernie takes half the delegates and a symbolic victory against the odds, Hillary has still got so many superdelegates it's laughable.

Con: Martin O'Malley has withdrawn from the race. The rest of the Democratic primary will be boring to follow, with only two candidates. Pro: He will probably endorse Bernie now.

 

Disclaimer: I only ever read about foreign policy part of politics, so that is where my preferences are grounded. Rubio is pretty much the nightmare candidate as far as I'm concerned, anything which keeps him down is good.

[Meshugger]

So Rubio and Cruz suddenly seemed as top contenders for the Republicans? Quite interesting, but i guess it so happens when one is married to an investment manager at Goldman Sachs and the other has them as their top donor; or that Mr. Rubio is a heavy supporter of the new H1-B Visa program of which was proved to be a manufactured crisis by big business (http://yro.slashdot.org/story/15/04/25/2219209/think-tanks-how-a-bill-gates-agenda-becomes-a-law) and they also happen to think that isolating Russia is the top priority combat in foreign relations. Not to mention the biggest billionare donors are for them are Sheldon Adelson and Paul Singer, who thinks that the US has too tight borders and aren't zionists for Israel enough. Finally, Microsoft just so happened to be the one counting the votes and also being the second largest donor to Rubio.

 

But i guess it all comes together for the american voter that these are the positions that are in their best interests.