2016 Presidential Election Thread

For the same reason dems made McCains age an issue in 2008: it doesn't matter. They're just looking for something negative to cling to.

Save that McCain's VP pick was a drooling idiot. If he had picked someone like Romney, nobody would have made much of McCain's age.

Ask Bernie how that went and Bernie motivated that group way more. I think Stein is kind of flaky but I want to promote third parties as viable alternatives and if she gets 5% then the green party will get federal funds in the next election.

The GOP is trying a second David French: https://www.evanmcmullin.com/my_letter_to_america

Ballot access deadlines mean he's fucked. Gary Johnson is more likely to win Utah than he is any state, which would put him in 4th for electoral votes, so the House couldn't consider him.

I would think he might cut in to some of Gary Johnson's votes, making him even less likely to win any states. Of course the great hope is that he cuts in to Trump's votes, as I'm sure nobody backing McMullen actually expects him to win.

Gary Johnson isn't going to win any states. It's extremely doubtful that he'll even win a county.

Every Johnson thinks it can go the distance.

Republicans trying to run other candidates know they can't win. Winning is not their goal.

Preventing Trump from winning is their goal. The idiots would rather Clinton win then have Trump win.

Idiots? Eh, if either Clinton or Trump is going to start WWIII, I think they'd rather have NATO intact for it, which is not an unreasonable position.

Would trump still not be a better option than Hillary for republicans though? He's more likely to get things done that conservatives want than she will ever be. He's talking smaller more effective government, lowering taxes. He's even gone as far as lying his face off saying he's pro life.

I mean what's the problem here, is trump not conservative enough? Too conservative?

I would think, especially because it's a Clinton that's the other option, that holding your nose and voting the party line is really the only option.

Bullshit! Liberals were attacking McCains age long before the Palin pick.

The Palin pick did make him seem senile.

Saw this in the East Village and thought it was funny.

And the names of these liberals were.....?

There was a great "On the Media" yesterday about third parties and strategic voting.

Why is the "soldier" wearing a Navy uniform?

He's a fan of seamen?

Trump was pointing out an important fact:

Very few NATO members are meeting their NATO obligations in regards to their military because they refuse to pay for or invest in their military as required by the treaty.

If WWIII started right now Europe could not defend itself if the United States disappeared. The United States would have to do the bulk of the fighting itself because no country in Europe is capable even together of fighting anything more then a tiny campaign.

It's time for that to change. European countries must start investing again in having a strong military. Obviously they won't be as strong as the United States but they could be far stronger then they are.

So explain to me why blood of your fellow citizens should be shed for people who won't take their defense obligations seriously?

The Republicans, majority of them, in the Congress and the ones running the party are NOT CONSERVATIVE no matter how many times they claim to be such a thing. If they were conservatives Ted Cruz would be the nominee.

Neither by the way is Trump a conservative.

They hate Trump because Trump represents a great threat to their power. They can't control him nor influence him their way.

This is why you see a lot of Republicans say they won't vote Trump and that they will even consider voting for Clinton. It's also why they are trying to float 3rd party candidates. It's why rich Republicans like the Koch brothers (not conservative) are withholding money from any campaign. They are more interested in maintaining what power they have in Washington DC even if that means Hillary Clinton wins the White House. The Republicans were a minority party for a long time. They would have no problem going back to that status if it means shoving Trump over a cliff and letting Clinton in the White House as long as they can maintain some of their political power.

They can't of course come out as a group and slag Trump off but they sure are making sure everyone knows they don't like Trump.

At this point she is going to win.

At this rate yes. But they want to make sure of it.

Jill Stein is a Kremlin Muppet.

Possibly. When was that picture taken? Prior to Putin retaking power, RT wasn't a quarter the Kremlin mouthpiece it is now.

50 national security experts speak out against Trump. http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/08/polit...l-security-letter-donald-trump-election-2016/

She will go on any network in hopes of getting exposure. As a minor third party she pretty much can't turn down a media appearance on the rare occasion one is offered.

Susan Collins (R Senator) on why she can't vote for Trump.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...1095be-5d7e-11e6-9d2f-b1a3564181a1_story.html

Meanwhile the polls keep getting worse for Trump. While there is a lot of election left to go, it's definitely not looking good for the Rs. They better hope a lot of the not-Trump R-leaners split their ticket instead of staying home. If they don't show up the House could actually be in play, which is insane.

If the Dems take the House, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Dems get rid of the filibuster if they don't have 60. The lessons of 2008-2016 have been learned. The Republicans have no desire to govern. Compromise is not possible with them. Of you want to do anything you gotta do it now (likely this would be only window until '22 or '24).

Yup, and Hillary is nowhere near as conciliatory as Obama. And she's received 30 years worth of slamming by the Republicans to work off. I picture her taking the Obama lesson, and just steamroll and bulldoze them for the next 8 years.

And that's a good thing.

Picture is very recent. Trump military advisor Gen. Flynn was also sitting at the same table.

The other way in which such a scenario would be different from Obama's first two years, is that Clinton would have a lot less trouble whipping the Democrats to toe the line. Obama, even when he had a majority on paper, very often did not have a majority that was actually ready to vote with him.