US Elections 2016

[Guard Dog]

I have just lost all interest in the outcome of this election. Don't get me wrong, I'm still voting. There are congressional and state races that are important (my boss being one of them  ) but who ends up in the White House is just not something I can make myself care about anymore. I guess the reason is I dislike all of them. I haven't a shred of respect for a single candidate running now. And I'm already going to vote R > D so what the hell.

 

If the SCOTUS wasn't an issue I'd vote Libertarian this year. Someone has to.

[BruceVC]

I have just lost all interest in the outcome of this election. Don't get me wrong, I'm still voting. There are congressional and state races that are important (my boss being one of them  ) but who ends up in the White House is just not something I can make myself care about anymore. I guess the reason is I dislike all of them. I haven't a shred of respect for a single candidate running now. And I'm already going to vote R > D so what the hell.

 

If the SCOTUS wasn't an issue I'd vote Libertarian this year. Someone has to.

Under the circumstances and considering the fact the Republicans should be soundly defeated it makes sense to lose interest in these elections 

[Guard Dog]

[licketysplit]

 

I'd vote for a lobotomized chimp before I choose her.

[BruceVC]

 

 

I'd vote for a lobotomized chimp before I choose her.

 

Its interesting that you have such little respect for your country...there is a good chance Hilary will be the next president. Yet you compare her to an animal?

 

I'm not saying you have to like her...but dude come on, lets keep the criticism in perspective 

[licketysplit]

 

 

 

I'd vote for a lobotomized chimp before I choose her.

 

Its interesting that you have such little respect for your country...there is a good chance Hilary will be the next president. Yet you compare her to an animal?

 

I'm not saying you have to like her...but dude come on, lets keep the criticism in perspective 

 

 

She's more like a cold blooded reptile. Or a virus. And as a liberal, I sincerely hope she's not elected. I would choose any republican over her, even Trump. 

[Hurlshort]

I've always found it pretty bizarre how we try and demonize our political opponents.  Anybody who has actually served the 4-8 years to be President has sacrificed for the country, regardless of politics.  It's an incredibly difficult job.  

 

 

That's why I'm so puzzled about Trump running.  He doesn't strike me as the type to take a paycut to do one of the hardest jobs on the planet.  

[BruceVC]

 

 

 

 

I'd vote for a lobotomized chimp before I choose her.

 

Its interesting that you have such little respect for your country...there is a good chance Hilary will be the next president. Yet you compare her to an animal?

 

I'm not saying you have to like her...but dude come on, lets keep the criticism in perspective 

 

 

She's more like a cold blooded reptile. Or a virus. And as a liberal, I sincerely hope she's not elected. I would choose any republican over her, even Trump. 

 

Please consider a reality where she will become president...in fact I am confident she will be 

 

Sanders has done well but Hilary just is more experienced and reasonable with social changes 

 

And the Republicans have impacted there own success by allowing Trump to run rampant..yes I know I'm predicting early but I'll go into more detail after the election as I want to be right

 

Also I understand its not like Trump could be reasonably stopped by anyone ...but I really think he has done the Republicans harm within the minorities 

[HoonDing]

I hope she gets elected so I get to make Mama Hilary jokes.

 

Besides, then those millions of rapefugees can mayhap be funneled across the pond.

Edited February 6, 2016 by HoonDing

[BruceVC]

I've always found it pretty bizarre how we try and demonize our political opponents.  Anybody who has actually served the 4-8 years to be President has sacrificed for the country, regardless of politics.  It's an incredibly difficult job.  

 

 

That's why I'm so puzzled about Trump running.  He doesn't strike me as the type to take a paycut to do one of the hardest jobs on the planet.  

I have been asking myself this same question, why run for president?

My view is because he is one of fairly large percentage of Americans, mostly white, who feel Obama has not only  weakened the USA he is undermining certain core laws that the USA was built-on ...its like people feel this is a battle for American identity 

[ShadySands]

Bernie is closing in on Clinton nationally

 

Hillary Clinton has another near-tie on her hands.

 

A new Quinnipiac University poll shows her in a virtual dead heat with Sen. Bernie Sanders nationally, at 44-42 percent (well within the poll's 2.9 percent margin of error). The poll represents a major slide for Clinton over the last few months; she held a 31-point lead against Sanders in the same poll back in December.

 

The poll was conducted from Feb. 2-4 and is the first national survey of the race since Clinton narrowly defeated Sanders in Iowa, a contest that he has referred to as "a virtual tie." The Iowa race proved Sanders' ability to turn the excitement around his candidacy and large attendance at rallies into actual votes.

 

The New Hampshire primary, in which Sanders has a sizeable lead, is just five days away and could provide another boost to his campaign.

 

The new national poll also shows Sanders performing more strongly than Clinton in the general election -- though that contest is months away and much could change before November. The survey shows Sanders defeating Donald Trump by 10 points, Sen. Ted Cruz by four points and tying with Sen. Marco Rubio, who is also gaining ground nationally as establishment Republicans try to coalesce around him as a Cruz or Trump alternative.

 

Clinton, by contrast, would defeat Trump by 5 points, according to the poll, but ties with Cruz and loses to Rubio by 7 points.

 

Edit - If Trump is president then he gets more power and influence than he already has and a place in the history books. That might be enough, I dunno.

Edited February 6, 2016 by ShadySands

[licketysplit]

 

 

 

 

 

I'd vote for a lobotomized chimp before I choose her.

 

Its interesting that you have such little respect for your country...there is a good chance Hilary will be the next president. Yet you compare her to an animal?

 

I'm not saying you have to like her...but dude come on, lets keep the criticism in perspective 

 

 

She's more like a cold blooded reptile. Or a virus. And as a liberal, I sincerely hope she's not elected. I would choose any republican over her, even Trump. 

 

Please consider a reality where she will become president...in fact I am confident she will be 

 

Sanders has done well but Hilary just is more experienced and reasonable with social changes 

 

And the Republicans have impacted there own success by allowing Trump to run rampant..yes I know I'm predicting early but I'll go into more detail after the election as I want to be right

 

Also I understand its not like Trump could be reasonably stopped by anyone ...but I really think he has done the Republicans harm within the minorities 

 

 

She won't get elected. Americans DO NOT want a frikken royal family in charge. That means no Bush and no Clinton. You're not in my country mate, watch and see. It'll be Bernie, Cruz or Rubio. 

[Zoraptor]

I've always found it pretty bizarre how we try and demonize our political opponents.  Anybody who has actually served the 4-8 years to be President has sacrificed for the country, regardless of politics.  It's an incredibly difficult job.

The why is pretty easy- being reasonable and fair tends to make for poor sound bites and is... boring, I guess would be closest. While people like to say that they vote for the sensible option that doesn't do dirty politics and has a positive message they're very prone to vote for those that use dirty tactics and just rationalise them away. For Presidents or Secretaries of whatever it very much tends towards the old adage of familiarity breeding contempt. Good decisions tend to be forgotten or put in the 'should have been better' category while every bad decision is remembered and dissected with a chorus of rivals and pundits saying how it could obviously have been avoided had they been in charge.

 

That's why I'm so puzzled about Trump running.  He doesn't strike me as the type to take a paycut to do one of the hardest jobs on the planet.

OTOH he does strike me as a gigantic egotist. That would readily explain going for the most important job in the world.

[Vaeliorin]

Please consider a reality where she will become president...in fact I am confident she will be

I have. It involves me moving to Canada.

[Calax]

Oh boy this debate is going to be fun... Ben Carson refusing to come out, while Trump basically going "ok, I'm not going out either"

[Hurlshort]

 

Please consider a reality where she will become president...in fact I am confident she will be

I have. It involves me moving to Canada.

 

 

Hah, feel free to leave.  Odd that you would flee to a country with higher tax and universal health care to get away from a democrat, but what-evs.

Edited February 7, 2016 by Hurlshot

[BruceVC]

 

 

Please consider a reality where she will become president...in fact I am confident she will be

I have. It involves me moving to Canada.

 

 

Hah, feel free to leave.  Odd that you would flee to a country with higher tax and universal health care to get away from a democrat, but what-evs.

 

Hurlshot I know you aren't a big fan of Hilary but what is your view of her being elected?

 

 

 

Living in California would this have any impact to you and your family that concern you with her policies ?

[Bartimaeus]

Being around here a lot, the only reason you need to want Bernie to win the nomination is so Bruce can eat crow.

 

Of course, if Hillary gets the nomination, then we all have to instead. Sweet baby Moses, please let Bernie win.

Edited February 7, 2016 by Bartimaeus

[Barothmuk]

Bernie Sanders, Public Menace

 

Senator Bernie Sanders is a decent human being and a passionate politician. He is also a grave threat to the Democratic Party. Because the Democratic Party is currently the only major U.S. party devoted to moderation and rational empiricism, Sanders's robust campaign for president is consequently a threat to the U.S. as well...

 

Sanders lacks the talent for sneering contempt that animates the candidacies of Ted Cruz, Chris Christie, Donald Trump and, often enough, Marco Rubio. But he shares other unwelcome attributes...

 

The American economy, a sprawling, $18 trillion behemoth stretching and contracting in more directions at once than anyone can possibly comprehend, much less control, is "rigged," Sanders says. This claim, too, owes much to a paranoid style. Who has rigged this giganotosaurus of disparate goods and endlessly varied services? Perhaps "Wall Street." Or maybe "corporations."

 

In politics, any force too spectral to wear a proper name is too elusive to be contained by government or law. Sanders all but admits as much. He posits that his election to the White House, where he would command the vast levers of the executive branch, would be insufficient to unrig things. A majority of electoral votes might suffice for a "moderate" like Hillary Clinton; Sanders, however, requires a "revolution."

 

In Thursday's MSNBC debate in New Hampshire, Sanders exposed other troubling signs reminiscent of some of his right-wing counterparts. His preoccupation with who is and is not a true "progressive" is the mirror image of the right-wing obsession with doctrinal purity and the tedious, narcissistic battle over who is a "true conservative" and who is a compromising RINO.

 

...

 

Sanders is no Carson or Trump; he lacks their preening self-regard (in the form of false humility in Carson's case) and their casual contempt for voters. But Sanders is almost exclusively animated by economic inequality and injustice.

 

For more than two decades the GOP has veered deeper into disaster. Unable to adapt to the rapid cultural, technological, economic and global changes thrust upon it, the party has fomented backlash and reaction. The national Democratic Party, meanwhile, has left its 1970s dysfunction behind. Flexible and functional, it has displayed pragmatism (how much did Nancy Pelosi NOT want to bail out Wall Street in 2008?) and moderation (basing its health-care reform on the plan of a conservative think tank) and knowing, most of the time, more or less, when to take half, or quarter, of a policy loaf when the whole is unobtainable.

 

Sanders threatens that. Should he wrench a sizable part of the party in his direction, and keep it, Democrats risk resembling Republicans in all their sorry ideological fixations, infighting and incompetence. If a large, radicalized faction emerges on the Democratic side, as it has within the GOP, the nation could truly become ungovernable, paralyzed by two fractured parties equally incapable of reconciling themselves to complex realities.

 

This is not the promise of Sanders's vision. But it is a potential consequence of it. Like others, Democrats have a lot of pent-up frustration. Many, no doubt, are eager to stick it to the man. But the man, and even the stick, are metaphors, and pretty shallow ones at that. The Democratic Party's hard-won successes -- on health care, climate, financial regulation and more -- are, by contrast, both real and profound. Which is the sturdier political foundation for a just future?

 

 

[ShadySands]

If Bernie Sanders loses, his backers may not be there for Hillary Clinton in November

[BruceVC]

Being around here a lot, the only reason you need to want Bernie to win the nomination is so Bruce can eat crow.

 

Of course, if Hillary gets the nomination, then we all have to instead. Sweet baby Moses, please let Bernie win.

Barti please don't tell me  you are planning on voting for Sanders as well....that would be the ultimate betrayal 

 

But on a serious note both Sanders and Clinton are better than any of the top 3 Republicans, you may assume I have no personal interest in Sanders winning but I do. He appeals to the younger people within the Democrats and people that want the social  change he espouses...his views around free education, restructuring of Wall Street and ideas around healthcare I completely understand resonate with many Americans

 

But for me a stable  USA financial sector is critical to global health....lets just stay out of it for the sake of everyone. 

 

Hilary is the more reasonable candidate for me because she always seems to make points  that I understand...nothing radical 

 

But end of the day they would both be good for the USA as they both are committed to growing and supporting the middle class 

 

But imagine a Trump victory ....I was watching various interviews with him around Megyn Kelly, she is smoking hot by the way, and I realized how insecure he is. No he really isn't the right person to be the President

[BruceVC]

If Bernie Sanders loses, his backers may not be there for Hillary Clinton in November

Shady will you vote for Clinton if Sanders loses?

 

I laughed at the part of the article 

 

" It’s condescending,” said Caitlin Conley, a 19-year-old student at Franklin Pierce University in Rindge. “It’s like she doesn’t think young people can have an opinion and know what they are talking about.”

 

Correct that's exactly what I think....and when I was 19 I wasn't assuming I knew more than people with 20-30 years experience 

[Zoraptor]

If Bernie Sanders loses, his backers may not be there for Hillary Clinton in November

 

I've seen a lot of those type of articles, I do wonder if it's reciprocal and Hillary supporters won't be there for Sanders if he wins.

 

Bernie Sanders, Public Menace

 

Good thing that's Bloomberg View otherwise I'd suspect that Mike was definitely going to run in order to save the US from Socialism and The Tea Party.

[BruceVC]

 

If Bernie Sanders loses, his backers may not be there for Hillary Clinton in November

 

I've seen a lot of those type of articles, I do wonder if it's reciprocal and Hillary supporters won't be there for Sanders if he wins.

 

Bernie Sanders, Public Menace

 

Good thing that's Bloomberg View otherwise I'd suspect that Mike was definitely going to run in order to save the US from Socialism and The Tea Party.

 

Zora from your perspective as someone  who wants the USA to fail  and end Western  global hegemony who would be the most disruptive candidate? Cruz perhaps ?( hypothetical question of course because 4 years is not enough to destroy the USA but you could do loads of damage in 4 years ) 

[Calax]

Well, I think Christie scored some points and managed to do a pretty impressive job of bodying Rubio in the debate. Cruz got off badly as well, while Carson was barely there.

 

Trump sounded like he's actually getting more serious about the general election than the primary because he threw out some things more in line with the Democratic party line than the Republican (specifically, repeal Obamacare and rebuild it under a single payer). Got booed by the crowd  but ultimately didn't come off as much of an ass as before.