Pruitt wrote:…(other than Sanders) this crop of politicians is a truly disgusting bunch of humans.
word. O'Malley probably gets a pass, but he did commit at least one disgusting policy back in B-more that cost lives as well as suffering. This particular corruption type I see much more prevalent today than in the past. Maybe even inevitable. Because they get away with it, move on to the higher office or to riches in the private sector.
Pruitt wrote:…(other than Sanders) this crop of politicians is a truly disgusting bunch of humans.
word. O'Malley probably gets a pass, but he did commit at least one disgusting policy back in B-more that cost lives as well as suffering. This particular corruption type I see much more prevalent today than in the past. Maybe even inevitable. Because they get away with it, move on to the higher office or to riches in the private sector.
I've already seen enough of these psychopathic clowns to agree with you completely. The rare seemingly sane ones like Lincoln Chaffee and Jon Huntsmann last time around get chased out early.
Who knows? Maybe, you were kidnapped, tied up, taken away and held for ransom.
Those days are gone forever
Over a long time ago
Oh yeah…
Not from the other stories I hear about how hated he is by people that knew him at every stage in life. I don't doubt it, because he has an extremely punchable face, and it is even worse when he pretends to be a likable common man, or pandering. I only saw a couple of clips of last nights debate, but man I hate him every time he speaks. It's really interesting the latest "phony Christian" attacks from the Fundies. No idea if his religiosity is real or fake, and I don't really care, but that is either a really harsh criticism, or Cruz is much more of a disgusting person than I realize.
An honest to God cult of personality - formed around a failed steak salesman.
-Pruitt
Not from the other stories I hear about how hated he is by people that knew him at every stage in life. I don't doubt it, because he has an extremely punchable face, and it is even worse when he pretends to be a likable common man, or pandering. I only saw a couple of clips of last nights debate, but man I hate him every time he speaks. It's really interesting the latest "phony Christian" attacks from the Fundies. No idea if his religiosity is real or fake, and I don't really care, but that is either a really harsh criticism, or Cruz is much more of a disgusting person than I realize.
Turns out the sister of one of my GF's best friends lived in the same dorm as Cruz at Princeton. And the stories are all true...he was universally hated on campus.
A few thoughts about Hillary. I'll keep it brief. And clean.
Yes, I hate her and shudder at the prospect of her being president. Problem is, damn near everyone else not named Bernie makes me shudder more. But this is my view/opinion about her chances as of today.
The polls may be right. Or wrong. Her result on Monday is an important piece. Here are some other important pieces.
1. There is a greater that zero possibility that her health could cause her to exit. This cerebral venous thrombosis thing is really rare, and really difficult to make a prognosis. She could be just fine, but this thing could recur, or she could suffer a serious adverse effect from anti coagulation therapy. Of course they are being closed-lipped (dishonest) about this, it could be nothing or something.
2. The email thing. The credible people I read who have followed this, and not the rabid Hillary haters (like me) consider this still a problem. That there is significant evidence to warrant a felony charge for mishandling classified material. Several months ago I had the theory that Obama really fucking hates her and would have justice department press fully. Wrong on that count; Justice has hemmed and hawed. Petraus was clearly guilty of a felony charge, and they not only played it down to a misdemeanor, but they've rehabilitated him to the point he may hold a significant government position again. This would've been unthinkable a few years ago, but the privilege of members of the insider club keeps growing, to include immunity to such things. And that includes Hillary, but there is a chance still for something unacceptable to emerge. Today's non-release in the face of a court ordered release of documents by this date makes this point. Again, she could skate past this, but it could stop her candidacy.
3. The depth of hatred for Clinton is underestimated, I think. Of course, I am not standing on neutral ground here. But in addition to the traditional Clinton haters, a growing number of people on the left/progressive side who have awakened to the level of betrayal they have suffered by Obama's anti-progressive, pro war governance, are transferring that same disillusionment to Hillary. This is a significant factor in Bernie's appeal, and might propel him to a win Monday, and probably will take him to victory in NH a week later.
Obviously I see her as a completely fake liberal/progressive, whom despite her clear record millions of voters believe the facade. Just as they continue to believe Obama is a liberal/progressive president. But the numbers of both those groups are dwindling.
These have been the biggest reasons I have thought, over the past year or so, that her chances for election were slim. I did not factor the lack of any reasonable alternative other than Bernie. Not just the vanilla unacceptability of the whole GOP cast, but the special case unacceptability of Trump. The potential pairs of choices in November are mindbogglingly horrific. And thus, open the path to the first female potus.
Not since Nixon v Humphrey has it been so bad, and each of those two would be giants of character and intellect in the respective parties today (or drummed out for being too progressive/left).
It is quite reasonable and logical to survey the picture and conclude Hillary is a shoo in. I'll concede she has the best shot in my personal estimation. But so many things that are already on the table could go catastrophically wrong, (aside from the risk of unknown shit coming from nowhere). Really interesting, I am looking forward to how it turns out.
Who knows? Maybe, you were kidnapped, tied up, taken away and held for ransom.
Those days are gone forever
Over a long time ago
Oh yeah…
HUMBOLDT, IA—After making sure to douse every home, farm, and business located in the municipality with gasoline, retreating Clinton campaign staffers reportedly set the central Iowa town of Humboldt ablaze Friday to stem the advance of Bernie Sanders volunteers. “Once we received word the Sanders campaign had begun canvassing in nearby Fort Dodge, we only had a matter of hours to burn everything to the ground,” said communications director Jennifer Palmieri, who tossed a lit torch through the window of the town’s hardware store before rushing over to help a group of Hillary for America workers erect a roadblock made of dead livestock to prevent all entrance to and exit from the city. “With so little time left before voting day, we simply can’t allow them to establish a foothold in this part of the state. Besides, you can’t convince anyone to caucus for Bernie Sanders if the civilian population is gone and all that’s left is smoldering rubble.” At press time, Clinton campaign staffers were spotted rigging a nearby bridge with C-4 as they hastily retreated to Algona.
Who knows? Maybe, you were kidnapped, tied up, taken away and held for ransom.
Those days are gone forever
Over a long time ago
Oh yeah…
Yep. Not quite no chance, but minimal. I think his poll numbers mean little. The two results of the next ten days will move the needle drastically in your direction or in mine. I'll elaborate on my dumb opinion later.
Who knows? Maybe, you were kidnapped, tied up, taken away and held for ransom.
Those days are gone forever
Over a long time ago
Oh yeah…
brian wrote:It's all name recognition right now. When rubber meets the road and it's time to actually GOTV, have a ground game etc. then we'll see.
I don't think there's any remaining doubt that Trump's views are popular with a large percentage of GOP primary voters. But I'm still skeptical that voters will pull the trigger on a candidate who is (rightly) perceived as completely unelectable in the general election. I predict that Cruz will win the Iowa caucus, as he seems to have a much more organized campaign team then Trump, followed by a huge establishment push for Rubio (with pressure on Jeb, Christie, Kasich, etc. to drop out and endorse Rubio).
Our system is so backwards. Nothing has been working for the past eight years. Something big has got to change so people are safe and financially okay. I’m going into law enforcement. And look at the war on police. We have a war on everything — war on gender, war on police, war on race, you name it. We’re just way too politically correct as a country. And you got to do what you got to do to keep your country safe. If it’s banning Muslims … I don’t know. I think Trump would make an awesome president. I love that people have tried to knock him down so many times and he’s still going strong. I really admire that.
"I just want to feel safe like I felt like I did with George W. after 9/11. He had just taken office, and that kind of ruined his presidency, in a way. Our president now isn’t tough at all. I don’t think he cares. I think he’s an economic — I can’t say Hitler. But part of me feels like he does the national debt on purpose, because I feel like he hates America."
"I think Donald Trump is a parody of what a campaign ought to be and I’m ashamed of my party for the support that he seems to be getting. I wonder who these people are because I don’t know any of them."
(He's supporting Fiorina)
"When I heard Trump was running, I dropped my hat. That was it. I couldn’t believe it. It was kind of like — you know, if you found the mate you’d been waiting for, or the home of your dreams. I just knew that it was perfect. There’s a lot of us who try and try, and we hit and miss. A lot of us don’t succeed to the level that he has. He’s like a Carnegie. You know the Carnegie family? Or one of those people in history — the Ford family, for example. He’s a Henry Ford in our lifetime."
Read them all. Please. It's worth the 15 minutes.
"We're not the smartest people in the world. We go down the straightaway and turn left. That's literally what we do." -- Clint Bowyer
Ted Cruz is the most conservative guy in the bunch and he’s frankly the smartest guy in the bunch. I was leaning toward Rand Paul until Rand started to give me the impression that he was a little soft. Largely, the reason why I’m a conservative is because I’ve been on public assistance my whole life, and I have always felt ashamed of it. I have two major health conditions — cerebral palsy and an injury to my left hemidiaphragm. The whole idea of welfare and entitlements is to create a permanent underclass. They’ll give you plenty of handouts, but they won’t give you any hand-ups.”
“I don’t like politicians in the first place. You know, I’m kind of half-interested in Trump, but he does scare me at the same time. I’ve read that he’s voted liberal in the past. He actually did support Obama the first and second term, I believe. He just makes me nervous. He’s almost too good to be true, the way I see it. I just don’t know whether to trust him or not.”
"We're not the smartest people in the world. We go down the straightaway and turn left. That's literally what we do." -- Clint Bowyer
Trump reminds me of Reagan. Reagan really lived what he believed. We have a president now that doesn’t believe what he lives. He made promises and gave us great hope. Now we’re getting that hope back. We’re trying to get that change back to the way this country should’ve been, where we can say “Merry Christmas” and “God bless America.” I’m tired of political correctness all the time. We have contract workers that work with us, and a lot of them are Muslim. We have to honor their rituals. If they need to pray during the day, we have to allow that. There’s something wrong. It’s harder to be a Christian now in America. We’re now the minority, and I’m hoping Donald can bring us back to being the majority again.
Sadly, this mouth-breather has as many votes as you do.
"beautiful, with an exotic-yet-familiar facial structure and an arresting gaze."
A buddy of mine returned from deployment the other day. Combined with my going away and his return, our common group of friends have been dining and partying together.
During our collective time together politics inevitably comes up. Well, he hates Bernie Sanders. Like, detests everything about him. Socialist is still a pejorative that means "take people's stuff that they worked for away and give it to everyone who didn't work for it."
So I press..."You'd really vote for Trump then? If he's the nominee you'd seriously consider voting for that guy?"
His answer is yes, of course. He'd rather Rubio (friend is from Florida), but no matter the nominee, is the Republican. And it's almost anyone but Bernie.
I consider this dude a good friend, but seriously, our voting culture is fucked when the only thing that matters is the party affiliation affixed to a name. Issues and truth don't matter at all.
Becoming an ex-pat seems like the right thing to do one I'm done with this military crap.
mister d wrote:Couldn't have pegged me better.
EnochRoot wrote:I mean, whatever. Johnnie's all hot cuz I ride him.
“All those residing in Iowa take heed: Your home shall bear the mark of my campaign this eve, or may God help you,” said the Democratic candidate after dispatching a phalanx of campaign staffers to all four corners of the state to spread the message of her directive. “Be within your dwellings with the doors closed and locked before nightfall, and do not cross the threshold before the sun rises again in the sky. The emblem of the red-and-blue H will protect my true voters.”
Who knows? Maybe, you were kidnapped, tied up, taken away and held for ransom.
Those days are gone forever
Over a long time ago
Oh yeah…
A swastika was drawn on Donald Trump's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, police say that they can't tell if it was painted by his supporters or by his opponents.
Ted Cruz's favorite endorser may or my not have threatened to exterminate everyone who supports equal rights for homosexuals today.
“Don’t you understand that when a fellow like me looks at the landscape and sees the depravity, the perversion — redefining marriage and telling us that marriage is not between a man and a woman? Come on Iowa! It’s nonsense. It is evil. It’s wicked,” Robertson told the crowd.
“It’s sinful. They want us to swallow it, you say. We have to run this bunch out of Washington, D.C. We have to rid the earth of them. Get them out of there. Ted Cruz loves God.”
When Cruz appeared on stage, he reflected praise back at Robertson. “What an extraordinary human being,” the candidate said, claiming that “God makes every one of us unique, but some are uniquer than others.”
“What a voice Phil has to speak out for the love of Jesus,” Cruz added. “What a joyful, cheerful, unapologetic voice of truth Phil Robertson is.”
And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness. - God
brian wrote:It's all name recognition right now. When rubber meets the road and it's time to actually GOTV, have a ground game etc. then we'll see.
I don't think there's any remaining doubt that Trump's views are popular with a large percentage of GOP primary voters. But I'm still skeptical that voters will pull the trigger on a candidate who is (rightly) perceived as completely unelectable in the general election. I predict that Cruz will win the Iowa caucus, as he seems to have a much more organized campaign team then Trump, followed by a huge establishment push for Rubio (with pressure on Jeb, Christie, Kasich, etc. to drop out and endorse Rubio).
Should I move this over to the "Right" thread? With Rubio finishing a close third tonight there is going to be massive pressure on all the other non-Cruz, Trump, and Carson candidates to drop out and back Rubio. He's clearly the GOP establishment's only viable hope at this point, and should start cleaning up in fundraising.
