Is the U.S. officially a banana republic?

It is looking more and more that our next presidential election will, once again, feature a Clinton vs a Bush. How is it that our politics got so inbred, so lacking in new blood, so completely controlled by the same big money donors? This is not a sign of strength; this is a sign that our political system is highly corrupt and it is just the same few connected families passing offices back and forth like they own them by right of birth.

There's a simple solution for the problem:

Don't vote Democrat or Republican.

Too bad tens of millions of Americans haven't figured that out yet.

I voted third party last election. It didn't seem to do anything.

Not really.

It is simply the value of name brand merchandising.

As someone said here (or might've been another board), when you have fundraisers each trying to collect 10 million dollars from groups of wealthy donors, it is far, far, far easier when you have a familiar name and not some obscure congressman from Wisconsin or Kentucky.

Bankers in NYC might not give a damn who Rand Paul is and studio chiefs might not give a damn who Elizabeth Warren is........but they know the names "Bush" and "Clinton".

By the way, if you don't like JEB Bush running now, his son will run in 2028. Mark my words.

He just got elected Land Commissioner in Texas which is considered a stepping stone position. Abbott was just elected governor in Texas and will probably get two terms. That means George P. Bush will run for governor in 2022 and for reelection in 2026 and win both. Positioning him perfectly at the age of 52 to win the presidency. Early 50s is IIRC one of the most common ages to be elected president. He has run a business and served in Afghanistan so he has all the "touchstones" of a president. Not to mention he is half Latin American.

I bet you chafed the hell out of your pee pee, stroking it to the thought of another Bush in the White House.

Not really as it (among innumerable things) kills my hopes of running one day.

Still, I will take another Bush over an Obama or a Clinton.

I just wanted to quote this for truth before he got smart and edited it.

The way I see it if I had ever had any hopes of running for political office I would've had to make some progress in that direction at least 5 years or more ago.

Yes, we have Dayton talking about both his future run for the presidency and his undying love for any politician named Bush.

Why anyone would want to re-run the absolute worst part of the Clinton Presidency is beyond me, but if the Democrats really want to run the shrew at the heart of all his scandals (Vince Foster, File Gate, FBI files, Hillary Care, Mark Rich, pardoning terrorists who planted bombs in New York, etc), then let them have at it.

I don't even like her but even I have to say half of you list of "scandals" are a load of horse shit.

And yet she had to lie and stonewall about why they were shuffling boxes of documents out of Vince Foster's office, why they ended up with the FBI files on congressional opponents, why her Rose Law Firm billing records kept disappearing and reappearing, why Mark Rich got pardoned, and why they pardoned so many terrorists. Since then she's added Benghazi and the nearly complete breakdown of the nation state in the Middle East, along with her reset button for Russia. She's a walking disaster.

The hat is bad enough. Let gturner's post be a lesson in how people should never go full tin foil armor.

The worst thing about these silly conspiracy theories is that they take away attention from all the unchallenged true things she did and stands by, which are way worse than any of the things you just named even if they were true. And she's still the best hope you lot have so far.

I forgot to add that she was at the heart of the White House travel office scandal.

Turn off the right wing talk radio, son, it is rotting your brain.

What makes you think that Baby Bush will challenge Abbott in 2022? Wheels ran a perfect campaign this year and routed his opponents in both the primary and general elections.

The only way I see Abbott being defeated is if one of the Castro brothers decides to run for governor and even then it would be tough sledding for either of them.

I guess you never heard about that one. From the Wiki

The White House travel office controversy, sometimes referred to as Travelgate,[1][2] was the first major ethics controversy of the Clinton administration. It began in May 1993, when seven employees of the White House Travel Office were fired. This action was unusual because although theoretically staff employees serve at the pleasure of the President and could be dismissed without cause, in practice, such employees usually remain in their posts for many years.

The White House stated the firings were done because financial improprieties in the Travel Office operation during previous administrations had been revealed by an FBI investigation. Critics contended the firings were done to allow friends of President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton to take over the travel business and that the involvement of the FBI was unwarranted. Heavy media attention forced the White House to reinstate most of the employees in other jobs and remove the Clinton associates from the travel role.

Further investigations by the FBI and the Department of Justice, the White House itself, the General Accounting Office, the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, and the Whitewater Independent Counsel all took place over the subsequent years. Travel Office Director Billy Dale was charged with embezzlement but found not guilty in 1995. In 1998, Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr exonerated Bill Clinton of any involvement in the matter.

Hillary Clinton gradually came under scrutiny for allegedly having played a central role in the firings and making false statements about her role in it. In 2000, Independent Counsel Robert Ray issued his final report on Travelgate. He sought no charges against her, saying that she had made factually false statements but there was insufficient evidence her statements were either knowingly false or that she understood that her statements led to the firings.

And she was just warming up.

Do you jerk off to this at night?

Not undying love. Just resignation.

And gturner, don't know about the rest but Vince Foster killed himself. My sister who lives in Hope, AR knew his wife and his wife (who stayed back in Arkansas) had been openly talking for WEEKs before his death about her husbands depression and disillusionment with Washington D.C.

I doubt Abbott wants more than the customary two terms. Perry was an unusual in that regard.

The media might be in love with both candidates, but I don't think either one will make it through their party's nomination. The far left does not like Hillary's foreign policy and she doesn't have the credibility to go after Wall Street like Elizabeth Warren does. The far right will never forgive Jeb Bush for his stance on immigration and his push of Common Core.Both are seen as establishment candidates and that is not the perception a candidate should be in these days if he or she wants to get elected.

If true, that is awesome but I find money wins and both of those have the family donor lists and fundraising systems. I would love to see both shit canned but I don't see it happening and instead expect we'll see lots of flirting with Not Hillary's and NotJebs (much like last cycle's NotRomneys) before the crushing inevitability of reality sinks in.

Look at it this way. Hillary Clinton would have absolutely no chance if the Democrats had not basically deified the Clinton Admin.

JEB Bush stands his best chance if all or most of the Republicans running as seen as wild eyed extremists.

Everyone says that "after the job his brother did, no one will nominate another Bush".

They sure as hell will if they see Bush as the only way to stop someone seen as a Tea Party radical from getting the nomination.

The GOP has learned one big thing after 2010 (when they should've retaken the Senate but didn't thanks to several questionable candidates) and 2012 when they forced Romney to the right.

Silence your crazies.

Everyone loves the crazy uncle but you don't give him the checkbook.

A lot more than five years. Just about every president in recent history got there after setting themselves up for it almost their entire adult lives.

You would think so, at look at all the crazies running for the nomination. Here's another:

http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovemen...laming_gays_for_1833_hurricane_katrina_deaths

Except for Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush II...............

Clinton isn't running. Warren is.

And Jeb Bush is also running.