Campaign 2016 - I'm Biden my time till I doctor the hearing.

[SJHovey]

Re: Campaign 2016 - I'm Biden my time till I doctor the hearing.

This Sanders event is like walking into a convenience store, no clerk behind the counter, no one to be seen, and the till is open with money sitting in front of you. It's not yours. You shouldn't take it. On the other hand, someone was really stupid leaving things open like that.

All this signifies is the fallacy that any politician and his crew are really honorable enough or moral enough not to steal the money when it's there for the taking. Bernie Sanders and his campaign are no different than any other campaign. If given the keys to power, they're going to loot the till exactly like Hillary will, exactly like the Republican candidate will. The money will be there for the taking, and they're going to take it. They'll come up with lame excuses, trying to blame the other guy, just like all other politicians do. They just need to stop the charade.

 

[mookie1995]

Re: Campaign 2016 - I'm Biden my time till I doctor the hearing.

This Sanders event is like walking into a convenience store, no clerk behind the counter, no one to be seen, and the till is open with money sitting in front of you. It's not yours. You shouldn't take it. On the other hand, someone was really stupid leaving things open like that.

All this signifies is the fallacy that any politician and his crew are really honorable enough or moral enough not to steal the money when it's there for the taking. Bernie Sanders and his campaign are no different than any other campaign. If given the keys to power, they're going to loot the till exactly like Hillary will, exactly like the Republican candidate will. The money will be there for the taking, and they're going to take it. They'll come up with lame excuses, trying to blame the other guy, just like all other politicians do. They just need to stop the charade.

puh-leeeeze

this is akin to turning on your tv and flipping channel and noticing that your cable company is providing hbo to you even though you don't pay for it.

nobody was reaching around a counter. it was available on the cable box.

 

[geezer]

Re: Campaign 2016 - I'm Biden my time till I doctor the hearing.

I kind of enjoy this search for the most perfect analogy. Now what if ol' Bernie was walking down the sidewalk behind Hillary, checking out her backside perhaps, and she dropped her handbag? Would he try to get her attention and hand it back, or would he loot its contents and then drop it in a trash can? hmmm
The only point being, of course they're all completely immoral psychopathic criminals: They're politicians.

 

[joecct]

Re: Campaign 2016 - I'm Biden my time till I doctor the hearing.

GOP primary math.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/...look-beyond/ukq0UeuIG8nR4c6omT53vN/story.html

 

[joecct]

Re: Campaign 2016 - I'm Biden my time till I doctor the hearing.

He bombed in Ames, Manchester, and, more importantly, New Haven

Lindsey Graham drops out.

 

[Rover]

Re: Campaign 2016 - I'm Biden my time till I doctor the hearing.

Sanders campaign looks like idiots. However Sanders himself recovered quite a bit with a well timed, sincere apology during the debate. He might want to consider additional house cleaning beyond his data guy. Not only did his people lie about the extent of their snooping, the ones in charge of messaging came off as arrogant and entitled to rip off another campaign's data because hey - he's Bernie Sanders. Sorta reminded me of the "I'm Keith Hernandez" episode of Seinfeld.

So, it wouldn't be the first time a candidate is far better than the people they've hired to run their campaign.

 

[Spartanforlife4]

Re: Campaign 2016 - I'm Biden my time till I doctor the hearing.

18 mil vs 6.7 mil for Republican vs Democratic debates. I'm sure a large amount of that is because of Trump, but another part of that is stuffing it Saturday night. There were just a couple crappy bowl games to go up against, but NFLN also had a game and I'm sure there were some other things on.

 

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Re: Campaign 2016 - I'm Biden my time till I doctor the hearing.

He bombed in Ames, Manchester, and, more importantly, New Haven

Lindsey Graham drops out.

And so it begins...next up are Fat Giuliani Lite, Sanitarium, and Ayn Rand Paul

By April, the Republican field should be down to 3-4.

You kind of have to feel for Cruz...without Trump, this would be his year to entertain the foam-mouthed idiots.

As I've said, Rubio has set himself up to be the R nominee in 2020, just like Romney in 2008. One term of Shrillary will be enough for the majority.

 

[Rover]

Re: Campaign 2016 - I'm Biden my time till I doctor the hearing.

I think Calgary Ted is setting himself up for 2020. Rubio is boring and being propped up by the media. Cruz is thriving even with the presence of Trump and a GOP + media establishment that hates him.

Either Cruz gets the nomination this time around, or he goes back to the Senate, wins re-election and tries again. Rubio will be out of a job come January, a job he spent very little time earning his paycheck in since he rarely bothers to show up for work. . That'll be 4 years being out of the national conversation while the Cruz' and Ryan's of the world are still in the news.

But, yes I see this becoming a Big 3 race after South Carolina, with Trump, Cruz and Rubio vying for the nomination. Some hangers on will remain provided they get funding. For example, I don't think Jebbers! leaves the race before Florida as he feels the rubes he sees walking around beyond the gates of his country club will eventually come around to him. Carson also has nothing else to do so might as well hang around and enjoy the ride.

Lastly, just to prove I'm an equal opportunity crank, here's former Dem Gov. Ed Rendell saying something stupid:

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-brief...-head-kasich-rubio-ticket-would-scare-me-most

What part of "John Kasich has zero chance of being the GOP nominee" isn't crystal clear at this point? Its like saying the Dems really fear the Jon Huntsman candidacy. Maybe they would, if the dude had a snowball's chance in h ell of being the nominee.

 

[Kepler]

Re: Campaign 2016 - I'm Biden my time till I doctor the hearing.

God gave you eyes
Plagiarize

Only please always to be calling it "research."

I went away for 10 days (Mexico, Honduras, Belize) and literally nothing of any significance happened. I am beginning to think I was wrong about Trump. He isn't imploding.

 

[walrus]

Re: Campaign 2016 - I'm Biden my time till I doctor the hearing.

I think Calgary Ted is setting himself up for 2020. Rubio is boring and being propped up by the media. Cruz is thriving even with the presence of Trump and a GOP + media establishment that hates him.
.

Doesn't the GOP Establishment hate both of them? Think that would tell the powers to be something about their party but............

 

[BassAle]

Re: Campaign 2016 - I'm Biden my time till I doctor the hearing.

Doesn't the GOP Establishment hate both of them? Think that would tell the powers to be something about their party but............

yeah, that their party is full of nut-jobs

 

[Rover]

Re: Campaign 2016 - I'm Biden my time till I doctor the hearing.

Doesn't the GOP Establishment hate both of them? Think that would tell the powers to be something about their party but............

GOP Establishment is dead. They're on their knees praying at this point and talking themselves into Rubio. Funny how we keep hearing you can't elect a first term Senator in such a dangerous world, and 2 out of the party's top 3 candidates are.....first term Senators.

 

[Kepler]

Re: Campaign 2016 - I'm Biden my time till I doctor the hearing.

GOP Establishment is dead.

How do you murder an insurgency?

Surrender. Let it govern. Let it deal with basic quotidian functions. And of course let it deal with all the splinter insurgencies that immediately separate from and challenge it because they didn't appreciate the slice of pie they got. Without logistical competence popular support evaporates; without popular support an insurgency evaporates.

The Republicans could destroy the Tea Party if they wrote off one election cycle and dumped all their support behind TP candidates and positions, promoted them to the hilt, and led them to the abattoir of the voting box.

Either way the RNC would win -- a victory, and even though Andrew Jackson is riding his horse up the White House steps he still needs tens of thousands of apparatchiks to fill all the policy slots and has nowhere to go but back to the party. A loss, and whether or not the fever breaks the (accurate) claim by the Tea Party that they are being held back from within is removed. A calamitous loss and the TP burns off as another one of the fringe movements that litter US political history.

But this continuing slow pull of the duct tape off the hairy chest of the right is just prolonging and deepening their agony.

 

[Rover]

Re: Campaign 2016 - I'm Biden my time till I doctor the hearing.

How do you murder an insurgency?

Surrender. Let it govern. Let it deal with basic quotidian functions. And of course let it deal with all the splinter insurgencies that immediately separate from and challenge it because they didn't appreciate the slice of pie they got. Without logistical competence popular support evaporates; without popular support an insurgency evaporates.

The Republicans could destroy the Tea Party if they wrote off one election cycle and dumped all their support behind TP candidates and positions, promoted them to the hilt, and led them to the abattoir of the voting box.

Either way the RNC would win -- a victory, and even though Andrew Jackson is riding his horse up the White House steps he still needs tens of thousands of apparatchiks to fill all the policy slots and has nowhere to go but back to the party. A loss, and whether or not the fever breaks the (accurate) claim by the Tea Party that they are being held back from within is removed. A calamitous loss and the TP burns off as another one of the fringe movements that litter US political history.

But this continuing slow pull of the duct tape off the hairy chest of the right is just prolonging and deepening their agony.

The issue I have with this theory is the Law of Unintended Consequences. What if, as shocking as this might be, the Tea Party/Trump/Cruz/etc DO in fact speak for the majority of their party, and then the remaining establishment crowd just goes along for the ride? Then instead of confining these nutters to the fringes, they actually become one of the two major parties in the US???

Unfortunately I find that scenario more plausible than a return to Country Club Republicanism as epitomized by the Bush family.

 

[Kepler]

Re: Campaign 2016 - I'm Biden my time till I doctor the hearing.

The issue I have with this theory is the Law of Unintended Consequences. What if, as shocking as this might be, the Tea Party/Trump/Cruz/etc DO in fact speak for the majority of their party

My argument would be that for as long as Fool and the Gang are prominent in the GOP they will represent a majority of the party's membership, because the party will continue to shrink in accommodating them. There is an inflection point where the number of loyal (but older) votes the Republicans lose by moderating their policies falls below the number of new (and younger) votes they gain. The instant the party hits that point it pivots, because parties are nothing but vote-eating machines.

I have been fond of mapping the GOP against the Democrats' fall.

1976 / 2004 -- One Last Win before the Looming Disaster
1978 / 2006 -- Canary in the Coalmine Midterm
1980 / 2008 -- Judgement Day
1982 / 2010 -- Regression Breeds Denial
1984 / 2012 -- The Smart Guys Wake Up
1986 / 2014 -- Regression Masks Deepening Crisis
1988 / 2016 -- Rock Bottom

Once you hit rock bottom everybody ought to wake up, the denial stops, and the aircraft carrier finally, grudgingly, starts to turn. There's an infusion of new people at many levels and the old guard adapts or dies.

 

[Kepler]

Re: Campaign 2016 - I'm Biden my time till I doctor the hearing.

Very good article summarizing the GOP's recent history, its internal revolt, and its choices in dealing with it.

However, in reading it one thing really jumped out at me. Frum's angry middle American white male is a lot closer to Bernie Sanders than he is to the GOP Elites. That is something Frum ought to address, but it is beyond the scope of this piece.

 

[geezer]

Re: Campaign 2016 - I'm Biden my time till I doctor the hearing.

Very good article summarizing the GOP's recent history, its internal revolt, and its choices in dealing with it.

However, in reading it one thing really jumped out at me. Frum's angry middle American white male is a lot closer to Bernie Sanders than he is to the GOP Elites. That is something Frum ought to address, but it is beyond the scope of this piece.

I also enjoyed that story. You could be right about Bernie in many ways, but how does the hot streak of libertarianism (aka guns) that these voters hold dear figure into it?

 

[Kepler]

Re: Campaign 2016 - I'm Biden my time till I doctor the hearing.

I also enjoyed that story. You could be right about Bernie in many ways, but how does the hot streak of libertarianism (aka guns) that these voters hold dear figure into it?

I don't think that's libertarianism -- not among the majority anyway. For example, they also tend to be anti-gay marriage and anti-drug legalization. And they are very concerned about losing their entitlements. Government is bad when it is taking from Us, the deserving, and giving to Them, who is undeserving, shiftless and likely dangerous. That isn't libertarianism, it's tribalism.

I think guns is partly real cultural heritage -- if you are rural a gun is just another tool -- and partly (and increasingly) that same fear. There is a narrative out there: we are rushing towards The Great Crash, which will be caused by debt, fiat currency, or loose morals. This time the government will be overwhelmed and the cities, which are not self-sufficient, will empty out into the countryside in the search for food. The government either won't help or won't exist, and they will be left to self-sufficiency, self-defense, and survivalism. This could last for a week or six months or forever, but in any case they must be ready to protect themselves.

This is a recurrent social anxiety, but because of terrorism and demographic and change currently it really hits a nerve right now. And so, it is heavily monetized and hawked relentlessly. They are torqued up on the (again, lucrative) theme that they are the life's blood of the Republic and everybody else is a parasite (not a "real American").

 

[Rover]

Re: Campaign 2016 - I'm Biden my time till I doctor the hearing.

Bernie is pitching a message of hope. Older white working class males are angry. He's not going to appeal to them by just railing against Wall St.

Trump is running a horrifically brilliant campaign. It boils down to anti-foreigners. Who's a foreigner? Simple: Anybody who doesn't look (or act) like you. The vagueness of that is its power. Voters themselves can tailor that message to mean what they want it to. Opposing Wall St sounds nice, but most denizens of Alabama, West Virginia or Kansas probably don't know too many hedge fund managers so its an abstract concept. Almost all of them DO know someone who doesn't look like them that they're annoyed with. Trump is speaking their language.