2016 U.S. Presidential Election

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I've lost faith in the process and I'm not excited about anyone running for this thing. I especially dislike Rand Paul and he just comes across as another establishment guy trying to appeal to those kinds of anti-establishment platitudes to get elected. Clinton's also been a huge disappointment to me.

Tl;dr: They're all full of shit and bought off IMO.
 
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DawnMachine said:
I do wish that Paul had stuck to his ideological guns a little more instead of reaching out to the Republican base. Even if it would have burned his chances of success, I feel like a candidate who campaigned on a serious anti-war stance (especially a conservative one) would open the way for that to become a bigger platform in the future.
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You are exactly right. Sticking to your principles is important. Even if you lose you will influence the discussion. In the long run that's important.

The Dude said:
I love Mia Love. I think she's awesome and I've been a supporter of her's for a long time. I think people like her can really do some good for this country and I think she has a wonderful, successful future ahead of her.
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I knew you were smart enough to know what's up. :)
 
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My fairly uninformed opinion:

Whatever happens I don't think the republican party wins in 2016. The party is being branded (and at times branding themselves) as the party of idiots in alot of people's minds and thats not good for anyone. This is coming from a moderate with decidedly left leanings. We need both parties on their A game. Neither is. But the Republicans are in particularly bad shape right about now.

I'm convinced Cruz isn't trying to win. Just wants to make some money off of his party.

The email thing has damaged her but I think Hilary wins this. The best republican candidates like Paul don't seem like theyre gonna get through the primaries, unfortunately. That'll leave someone like Jeb or Cruz to lose in the main election.

Personally, I like Warren. I don't think shes actually gonna run though. I'm more interested in the process than anything.
 
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SkeletonBias said:
Jeb Bush looks strong on paper, but he is going to follow the exact same trajectory that Rudy Giuliani took during his campaign in 2008. Despite polling well and having a lot of money, Bush will falter in the early states and end up running out of steam by the time Super Tuesday rolls around. He won't even compete in Iowa, will get upset by one or two candidates in New Hampshire, and then under-perform in Florida because he'll have to be competing against Rubio.
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I don't think Bush is going to flame out exactly the same way Giuliani did. Giuliani's "ignore everything until Florida" strategy was extremely unorthodox and risky, it didn't work, and I can't see why anybody would want to emulate it unless they were a total political dunce, which Jeb isn't, as even his strongest detractors would admit. Big picture I agree that Giuliani may well be the heir to Rudy's mantle of "the guy everybody expects do be a strong contender who proves underwhelming", I just don't expect him to emulate Giuiliani's specific mistakes so closely.


Lefty's Revenge said:
Whatever happens I don't think the republican party wins in 2016. The party is being branded (and at times branding themselves) as the party of idiots in alot of people's minds and thats not good for anyone.
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I dunno, that perception is very real, but at the same time I think it is mostly held by people who would never have voted Republicans anyway, so its electoral impact is slim.
 
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So at work we're taking calls on "lol that logo sucks" and somebody from a state the show isn't even in calls to shill for her.

How do you get that sort of job? I'd love to just sit on my ass and astroturf.
 
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dcisp said:
So at work we're taking calls on "lol that logo sucks" and somebody from a state the show isn't even in calls to shill for her.

How do you get that sort of job? I'd love to just sit on my ass and astroturf.
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Get ready for Hillary's infamously hostile campaign machine.
 
Dudeofteenage said:
I don't think Bush is going to flame out exactly the same way Giuliani did. Giuliani's "ignore everything until Florida" strategy was extremely unorthodox and risky, it didn't work, and I can't see why anybody would want to emulate it unless they were a total political dunce, which Jeb isn't, as even his strongest detractors would admit. Big picture I agree that Giuliani may well be the heir to Rudy's mantle of "the guy everybody expects do be a strong contender who proves underwhelming", I just don't expect him to emulate Giuiliani's specific mistakes so closely.
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Giuliani's "ignore everything until Florida" wasn't entirely by choice, it was in large part because it became clear he couldn't appeal to the electorate in primary states on the calendar before Florida, I just think Jeb will get backed into a similar corner. Iowa is a lost cause and he'll probably bypass the state entirely to save face. New Hampshire will be a battle with Walker and Paul that he may not survive. He's going to either have to gamble and wait for more favorable states and probably lose his momentum or go all-in and probably get embarrassed.

I don't think Jeb is an idiot, but I do think he and his advisers are severely underestimating people's revulsion to a Bush v. Clinton contest.
 
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As an observer from the radical left, I've been paying a bit more attention to the Democratic nomination (although I will likely vote for a third-party candidate since a socialist or communist will never get the Democratic nomination). A lot of American socialists are flipping their shit over Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders (the latter of whom openly identifies as a democratic socialist).

My take on these two? Neither would be likely to get my vote, although Sanders is a bit more likely. Warren trots out a lot of big talk that's very attractive to socialists, liberals and progressives (especially young lefties), but doesn't back it up on issues that are truly important to "my people" (like Israeli-Palestinian conflict, police violence against racial minorities, etc.) She also seems really disingenuous to me in an icky sort of way that I don't know how to articulate.

Sanders has a bit more appeal as the only open socialist in Congress, but suffers from some of the same problems. He's pro-Israel (which is a real problem if he wants to form any kind of coalition between the Democrats and groups like the Greens, Socialist Alternative or DSA) and so far seems to be mostly talk with little action. A lot of radical leftists are also pretty skeptical as to whether he can truly be called a "socialist" or not given his willingness to work with the Democrats (although those arguments mostly consist of "no true Scotsman" fallacies and Marxist circlejerks).

I'm still not sure what the third-party scene is going to be - rumor has it that Jill Stein will run with the Greens again, and Kshama Sawant from Socialist Alternative has been pegged as a possible candidate.
 
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I REALLY hope Jeb or Hillary don't win. The former is probably a complete RINO and the latter is an annoying demagogue. Plus I don't need another Bush or Clinton in the House. I know some of my extreme leftist peers who will vote for Hillary SORELY because, "Well, she's a woman. And therefore she'll make the country a better place. We don't need anymore White men in the office. This is the new America".

And of course the media is acting as if the election is this month. Good God.
 
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Zeorus said:
Sanders has a bit more appeal as the only open socialist in Congress, but suffers from some of the same problems. He's pro-Israel (which is a real problem if he wants to form any kind of coalition between the Democrats and groups like the Greens, Socialist Alternative or DSA)
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I think Sanders has absolutely zero interest in forming a coalition with any of those groups, so from a tactical perspective his positions are consistent. I think you're also projecting a bit when you say that the issues that are truly important to the radical left are Israel/Palestine and racism in the justice system, especially the first one. A lot of radical leftists are primarily oriented towards economic issues, chiefly limiting (and hopefully dismantling) corporate power and increased financial support for the working class. Warren does make good (if vague, but we're talking comparatively) noises in that area, so I can see why to some she'd be as attractive as Sanders.

Frankly there is no way Sanders is going to get the nomination, not least because he's not actually a Democrat. I know that doesn't formally prevent him from getting the Democratic nomination, but in practice it's a massive gimme to any opponent debating him.
 
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For me...

  • Mike Huckabee: While I think the Fair Tax plan would be an interesting experiment. Given his support of David Barton and other aspects, I have a feeling that Huckabee wouldn't mind letting America become more a theocracy.
  • Rand Paul: There's just something about him after I saw an interview where he claimed he would get rid of unnecessary government regulations and rules and then got really dodgey when the reporter asked which ones. I thought this was a very good question and although he reluctantly answered (Obamacare was the only thing he mentioned), it still left a bit of a bad impression.
  • Sarah Palin: She'll probably throw in her hat to get attention and then quit after a while.
  • Ted Cruz: There's somethings that are off about him. I'll admit that I don't really trust the modern Republican party. They don't want to work with others for the greater good of the country and this is the time where all this bickering is doing no good.
For me, I'm going with an independent. I know it's a "wasted vote", but a friend convinced me the true wasted votes are the ones you don't use or done without using your conscience.
 
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While I don't know/care much about Rand Paul, I applaud him for not taking the crap that is spewed out from the mainstream media. Any time a Republican (even Democrats one and awhile) does that, they're quickly label aggressive or hateful.

Though, I'm sure he'll get toned down when election time is closer.
 
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