2016 Presidential Election Thread

I kept wishing another Barrack Obama like figure would jump in and sweep Hillary like what happened in 2008 but it just isn't going to happen. The Clintons did a good job bribing, cajouling, and brow beating potential candidates into not running. They wanted to clear the field of other serious candidates before the race even started and then use the DNC to stack the deck so Hillary had the inside track.

Bernie Sanders is a nice guy and honest but he is no Barrack Obama. He doesn't have the power to really electrify crowds at his speeches and really get people excited about voting for him. His policies are great but he won't be able to impliment any of them but at least he is really passionate about them. Also he is just not telegenic enough for the modern media; he is a short portly man in a cheap suit who won't comb his hair. I admire that he lives his beliefs and has not used his time in Congress to enrich himself but I fear his true calling is as a college professor.

ftfy

Tom Hanks, George Clooney, Garth Brooks, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, and quite a few other liberals could probably walk away with it given the current field, though they might have some trouble in the general if political experience was a major issue and the Republicans weren't running Trump or Carson.

Not a Bernie fan?

I think he's okay, but my statement really is more an assessment of his chances. He polls better than the others in a few early states, but ultimately, he is not a threat to Clinton (IMO).

Bernie's currently polling better than Obama was at the same point in '08. Still not sure he can beat the Clinton Machine, but Duh Donald's been attacking him, which shows he's making the GOOPers nervous.

Meanwhile:


"Ebola Nurse" Sues Chris Christie
She filed $250K civil rights suit over forced quarantine

And if anyone wants a clue to the Jeb! "economic policy":


Bush Slashes Staff Pay for Struggling Campaign
Bush camp makes 40% payroll cut, downsizes Miami HQ

She has no case. A state can quarantine anyone if it perceives a potential threat from a communicable disease, so to win she'd have to establish that the state of New Jersey believed there was no threat from Ebola and acted in bad faith, perhaps because they just hated her for some bizarre personal reason.

Currently the British nurse who caught Ebola last January is recovering with meningitis after her recent near-fatal relapse. NBC News story. The day she fell ill again she'd been delivering a talk to school kids. Doctors didn't know that Ebola could come back like that, eight months after a patient was cleared.

Yeah, but by cutting all those employees, he's allowing himself to have more money to be a job creator. Wait. I'm not sure I understand.

Nevertheless, while this isn't as big a deal as Bridgegate, it's entertaining.

Jeb's super package is swimming in cash while his campaign is running out of cash. It looks like all the big donors want to hide their donations.

Trump is down in the polls and Carson isn't really running so it looks like Republicans are repeating the 2012 not Romney merry go round. I am more convinced than ever we will see Clinton vs Bush again.

Pay cuts and downsizing? Sounds like a good Republican campaign.

The spell checker didn't like Jeb or pac.

Really? Jeb's last fundraising hall was much lower than before and he's now cutting staff pay months before the first primary. The guy is not very well liked by his own base and is even losing in his home state. If he makes it to Super Tuesday it will be a miracle.

On the other side I am very surprised that Biden, Warren or some other democrat heavy weight have all decided not to jump in this weak field and challenge Hillary with all her baggage. If Hillary becomes the nominee and loses in November don't be surprised if Debbie Wasserman Schultz gets the blame.

In July he had $103 million in his super pac and it has only gone up from there. The problem is officially the super pac is seporate from the campaign so it is not like he can take money from the super pac and spend it on the official campaign. In reality the campaign and the super pac are one in the same which just goes to show what a load of partisan horse shit Citizens United was.

The Republican primary voters will NOT elect Jeb Bush. I guarantee it. The Bush brand is toxic.

Marco Rubio makes more sense. He's just as establishment as Bush but more well liked by the base. He's Jeb except younger, more ethnic, and with less baggage.

I expect folks are gonna start abandoning Jeb soon and switching over to someone who actually has a chance of winning.

Based on his polling, there aren't many who haven't already abandoned Jeb.

I keep hearing this. What do you base it upon?

He's also purty. He's to GOP women what Palin was to GOP men.

Aww. That's terrible.

... true, but terrible.

Bernie has been underestimated in almost every race he's run - and won most. I think people are counting on the people who have never voted, who say they will vote for Bernie, to not vote. But, I think they are wrong. I think the disenfranchised and apathetic have had enough. I think he's going to win.

Agreed. His lower fundraising total is a direct result of investors finally waking up to the fact that Jeb is not dominating like expected and most likely never will. Those of us who have actually been clued in to the Republican base already knew Jeb had no chance in hell in a Republican primary after common core became so unpopular. Plus primary voters do not like the establishment and Bush is the living embodiment of that.

Ahem, Cricket-Americans.

Ironic given that JEB Bush by the people who know is more of an independent thinker than either his father or brother.

But it doesn't matter much to me. If JEB Bush is never nominated to be president and never is elected president his son most certainly will be.

AFAIC, the problem rests with GOP voters:

• You've got your "I only watch FOX because they TELL THE TRUTH!!!" demographic
  
• You've got your "I'm voting for Trump/Carson/Fiorina because they're Washington outsiders and have absolutely no experience...Gotta go. Bringing my car in to the barber's for a tune-up; then I've got an appointment with my mechanic to pull this tooth that's been bothering me" demographic
• You've got the "Fuckit. I'm writing Rand Paul in anyway" demographic, and
• You've got your "Waste a day off standing on line to vote? I'll be home binge-watching Breaking Bad" demographic

The first demographic is almost exclusively old white people; the others less so. The problem is not melanin, but who's in the Clown Car and GOP voters' reasons for voting for them...or not.

Besides Dems do have a Jewish candidate with a fighting chance while Republicans only have (really bad) Christians running.

Proof?

Remember when Romney won by a landslide?

No one I know voted for Obama, so how could he possibly have won?