Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[hack]

I think that no matter the ideology, people are sick of mainstream politicians and mainstream politics. It's manfesting itself differently on either side.

No way Trump wants to be president, though. Or wanted to when this started. He was in it for the limelight to help him in other ventures. Now, this may be going to his head, perhaps. But I can't believe he actually WANTS the job.

[Da Geezer]

I believe Trump is a disaster for the country.

That said, it is humorous to see all the politicians that voted for McCain-Feingold and oppose Citizens United attacking Trump for financing his own campaign. If you really want campaign finance reform, you're looking at it. Does anyone believe that any of the other candidates, at least those who took donations from the bigshots, would dare to skip the final debate leading up to Iowa? Just ask any Trump supporter why they favor the guy and you get The Wall, temporary ban on Muslims, and financing his own campaign.

Trump is like the dog who chased the car and has now caught it.

[Mike]

I don't think he does either and ducking this debate is the first step in the process of fading away. I just can't see a hot blonde being Trump's downfall. It's an orchestrated move on his part.

[Da Geezer]

In my lifetime, I have never seen the Democrats have a poorer choice in the primaries than Bernie v. Hillary. And this is for an open seat.

When Mike Bloomberg says he is considering a run, it gives me some hope.

I don't know if any of you fellows know of the Overton Window. It is named after an acquaintance of mine, Joe Overton. His theory was that there is a relatively tight array of outcomes that are possible at any given time. This spectrum moves on a conservative/socialist axis over time, and has been becoming more socialist since the 30's. I believe Hillary misses the window on the socialist side and Trump misses the window completely because he refuses to talk policy. A middle of the road third party candidate like Bloomberg might pull Hillary more to the center.

[WingsFan]

Bloomberg has threatened to run before at this time before an election. Then again he could be jealous of of Trump who is another New York billionaire (with less money) doing so well. I still think Cruz will be the Republican rep. We will soon find out, he's making his move calling Trump scared and challenging him to a one on one debate anywhere anytime.


Trump knows Kelly is one tough ex lawer, that could make him look bad. Then Fox news makes fun of him by tweet (witch was actually funny) that really set off his ego. Think about it, who makes fun of Trump without retaliation? And not going to the debate is his rebuttal.

Ronald Reagan did the same thing skipping the debate in Iowa and then lost in 1980 before becoming president. Long way to go, Rick Santorum won Iowa 4 years ago.

[froot loops]

I'm skeptical he skips the debate.

[Wild Hoss]

I think that no matter the ideology, people are sick of mainstream politicians and mainstream politics. It's manfesting itself differently on either side.

I was chatting with the Chief of Staff for Ron Yoder (R-KS) a while back, and he told me something that stuck me; while Congress? approval rating is shitty, people?s approval rating for the elected officials they voted for is very high. The way I interpret that is that people say they are tired of mainstream politics, but what they really mean is that they are frustrated they don?t get their way.

That, IMO, is far worse than political fatigue, because it means the political structure is exactly what the voters want....but what they want is inherently non-functional. That?s a problem.

As such, what I see happening today is a rise of populism, fueled by the increasing radicalization of each end of the spectrum. Unable to centralize and compromise, we are growing further apart and even more radical in efforts to overpower the other side.

We desperately need a centist party to emerge IMO.

[iam416]

I nominate The Wizard as the first presidential candidate for the Hossian Centrists.

[hodgkal]

"I won't sit home, I'll vote. But not for the two shitheads offered. I'll write in Doc Hodgeman for Prez. Anyone here who knows him think that he's less than 100x better than all the other candidates combined?"

And if I'm nominated I'll name Jon as my running mate. And if elected I will resign on day 1 and lobby for Liney as speaker of the House, making him nex in line.

[iam416]

Jebus. I'd vote for Trump every day of the week and a billion times on Sunday.

[WingsFan]

40% of the voters are undecided, many might like Trump now, but doesn't mean they will push the vote lever for him (same goes for the burn). Very entertaining while crazy.

[Hannibal]

JMO but froot’s take is the most accurate. Trump isn’t filling a vacuum left by the abandonment of core GOP values.

You're wrong, because that is really what he is doing. Whether it is overspending, growing governmenmt, or failing to even attempt to stem the flood of illegal immigrants, the Republicans have been miles out of touch with their base for a long time. For almost everything except gay marriage and abortion, which Trump is not making central to his campaign. Your comment is precisely what I mean when I say that people do not understand the reason for Trump's successes. You are distilling it down to the irrational anger of dumb rubes when there are a lot of intellectual reasons to take a hard look at Trump's ideas (e.g. maybe having a rapidly expanding welfare state while sharing a completely open border with a third world country might not be such a great idea?). The base's opinions haven't altered signifcantly over the past couple of decades. This problem has been brewing for a while. Do you remember how unhappy the Republican base was with the Congress in 2006? The Republican voters punished the party in 2006 by staying home. That backfired horribly. They aren't going that route again. This time, they are punishing them by nominating a narcissistic lunatic as a candidate, because the mainstream candidates are not even remotely credible by now.

[Hannibal]

I'll be surprised if Trump doesn't win the nomination at this point. He has a very big lead and the runners-up arguably have more in common with Trump than they do with guys like Rubio or Bush. When Dr. Carson drops out, his support will probably go to Trump. If Cruz drops out, his supporters will probably not preferentially go to Rubio or Bush. When Fiorina drops out, her supporters will go to Trump. If it were anyone else in a different year, we would be talking about how he had completely sewn it up by now.

Jebus. I'd vote for Trump every day of the week and a billion times on Sunday.

Heh. My wife (big Liberal Dem) asked me whether I would vote for Trump. I hesitated. She was horrified that I would even consider it. I responded "Who do I have to vote for then"?

[Wild Hoss]

You're wrong, because that is really what he is doing. Whether it is overspending, growing governmenmt, or failing to even attempt to stem the flood of illegal immigrants, the Republicans have been miles out of touch with their base for a long time. For almost everything except gay marriage and abortion, which Trump is not making central to his campaign. Your comment is precisely what I mean when I say that people do not understand the reason for Trump's successes. You are distilling it down to the irrational anger of dumb rubes when there are a lot of intellectual reasons to take a hard look at Trump's ideas (e.g. maybe having a rapidly expanding welfare state while sharing a completely open border with a third world country might not be such a great idea?). The base's opinions haven't altered signifcantly over the past couple of decades. This problem has been brewing for a while. Do you remember how unhappy the Republican base was with the Congress in 2006? The Republican voters punished the party in 2006 by staying home. That backfired horribly. They aren't going that route again. This time, they are punishing them by nominating a narcissistic lunatic as a candidate, because the mainstream candidates are not even remotely credible by now.

The problem I have with your analysis? The majority of his support comes from your "dumb rubes". The conservative intelligentsia recoils from his and his platform.

Its not like he's the first Republican to float the idea of building a fence or a wall, or say that the government spends too much. Its been brought up a couple times before.

[Wild Hoss]

I nominate The Wizard as the first presidential candidate for the Hossian Centrists.

At my direction, Wiz would mop the floor with this collection of clowns. And Wiz is a total doofus.