Countdown to Extinction: The 2016 Presidential Election

[The new erato]

If you want to see rank sexism at work, one need look no further than the fact that everyone seems more interested in how Clinton dealt with her husband's infidelity than with how Trump got married 3 times and cheated on his 1st wife.

Because, you know, men are just supposed to be like that.

Especially successful men that are able to fix everybodys problems. Pfuyttt !

[Florestan]

What I find amusing is that, although the USA is a constitutional republic with firmly established checks and balances (of which Americans are very proud), each camp fears that the other´s candidate wining means that he or she will do just whatever crosses his or her mind, as if that very constitution and those very checks and balances did not exist and the President were entitled and had the power to act exactly as he or she pleases, car tel est son bon plaisir. Looking from the outside, Hillary and Donald seem to be not that much candidates for a constitutional Presidency, but pretendents to the crown of an absolute Monarchy. 

[zamyrabyrd]

What I find amusing is that, although the USA is a constitutional republic with firmly established checks and balances (of which Americans are very proud), each camp fears that the others candidate winning means that he or she will do just whatever crosses his or her mind, as if that very constitution and those very checks and balances did not exist and the President were entitled and had the power to act exactly as he or she pleases, car tel est son bon plaisir. Looking from the outside, Hillary and Donald seem to be not that much candidates for a constitutional Presidency, but pretendents to the crown of an absolute Monarchy. 

Spot on! The real extent of the power, the king makers, are behind the scenes holding the purse strings. This means how much clout and connections one has but not only that, who needs to be paid back for supporting the candidate in order to get elected.
The system as it exists now is a bloated dinosaur. Decent people who aspire to office are destroyed like snowballs in hell. That's why outsiders with fewer inner connections and therefore less obligation will not be weighed down by them, also serving as checks to personal ambition. Reagan and Carter were less insiders than say the Bushes or Clintons. You can't get things done unless you have X,Y or Z in your pocket.

[The new erato]

Spot on! The real extent of the power, the king makers, are behind the scenes holding the purse strings. This means how much clout and connections one has but not only that, who needs to be paid back for supporting the candidate in order to get elected.
The system as it exists now is a bloated dinosaur. Decent people who aspire to office are destroyed like snowballs in hell. That's why outsiders with fewer inner connections and therefore less obligation will not be weighed down by them, also serving as checks to personal ambition. Reagan and Carter were less insiders than say the Bushes or Clintons. You can't get things done unless you have X,Y or Z in your pocket.

Or as we say in Europe; the US is not a Democracy in the sense of the European meaning of the word.

[Florestan]

Or as we say in Europe; the US is not a Democracy in the sense of the European meaning of the word.

All "democracies" were, are and always will be in fact oligarchies. Exactlly how extensive, rich, powerful and disconnected from the people the oligarchy is depends from country to country.

[Karl Henning]

If you want to see rank sexism at work, one need look no further than the fact that everyone seems more interested in how Clinton dealt with her husband's infidelity than with how Trump got married 3 times and cheated on his 1st wife.

Because, you know, men are just supposed to be like that.

And cheated on his 2^nd.

TODD: But your past? You have your own infidelities, sir.

GIULIANI: Well, everybody does ....

Really;  Newt, Rudy & El Tupé get a pass, as the offenders. Clinton, well, she "plays the victim card."

So, between the Trump Foundation and the Clinton Foundation, it's the Clintons who are the more reprehensible?

Hillary Clinton has at the very least performed public service;  that cannot all be dismissed out of the legitimate concerns.  The best that can be said of El Tupé is that his consuming greed blinds him to small matters like propriety and the facts.

[The new erato]

to small matters like propriety and the facts.

I think you forgot quite a lot of nouns here; decency, modesty et al.....

I'll give him one thing though, he has integrity. But only to his own interests.

[zamyrabyrd]

Hillary Clinton has at the very least performed public service;  that cannot all be dismissed out of the legitimate concerns.  The best that can be said of El Tupé is that his consuming greed blinds him to small matters like propriety and the facts.

Sorry, Hillary's service is ONLY to herself. Anyone who gets in her way, WATCH OUT!
Most successful politicians and businessmen have more than a touch of narcissism, hanky-panky and a trenchant mouth. If they didn't have one trait, they had the others. Before swearing was universal even among school kids, Nixon frequently spiked his remarks as well did Johnson.
I really don't care about those but about policy. The Bushes may have been good family men but they were lousy in their jobs, the last one in particular.

[Karl Henning]

I think you forgot quite a lot of nouns here; decency, modesty et al.....

Ah, decency!

Actual things El Tupé has said about the military:

"I always wanted a Purple Heart."

"Avoiding STDs was my Vietnam."

"PTSD sufferers aren't strong."

"It's the gang that can't shoot straight."

"I prefer soldiers who don't get captured."

[zamyrabyrd]

Ah, decency!
Actual things El Tupé has said about the military:
"I always wanted a Purple Heart."
"Avoiding STDs was my Vietnam."
"PTSD sufferers aren't strong."
"It's the gang that can't shoot straight."
"I prefer soldiers who don't get captured."

I don't know where you got those statements, but presume they were from his half-baked youth.
Now he has voiced what seems to be a genuine concern for Vets, that they should get better treatment than what they are getting now.

[(poco) Sforzando]

I don't know where you got those statements, but presume they were from his half-baked youth.
Now he has voiced what seems to be a genuine concern for Vets, that they should get better treatment than what they are getting now.

No, my Trump-loving friend:

"When people come back from war and combat and they see maybe what the people in this room have seen many times over, and you're strong and you can handle it, but a lot of people can't handle it," Trump told a room full of veterans THIS PAST MONDAY.

I would suggest that the oven was turned off and the cake has remained half-baked.

[Turner]

Trump´s remark mocking John McCain ("I prefer soldiers who don´t get captured") dates from 2015 and it´s one of the most widely published and also internationally well-known of his comments. 

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/trump-attacks-mccain-i-like-people-who-werent-captured-120317

[Madiel]

I don't know where you got those statements, but presume they were from his half-baked youth.

Most of them I recognise as things he said during 2016.

And I am genuinely puzzled/worried that you're not aware of them. Where are you getting your news from, that doesn't tell you about these kinds of remarks?

[zamyrabyrd]

No, my Trump-loving friend:
"When people come back from war and combat and they see maybe what the people in this room have seen many times over, and you're strong and you can handle it, but a lot of people can't handle it," Trump told a room full of veterans THIS PAST MONDAY. I would suggest that the oven was turned off and the cake has remained half-baked.

First of all, I DON'T love Trump because I don't love narcissists. In fact, I can't stand them. That said, there are also plenty successful musicians, actors and performers who have more than a trace of me-ism. Studies have shown that having this trait helps to withstand the pressures of being in the public eye.
Well, it's true that some people were/are able to withstand combat without cracking and some are not. Is that untrue or insulting?

[Gurn Blanston]

First of all, I DON'T love Trump because I don't love narcissists. In fact, I can't stand them. That said, there are also plenty successful musicians, actors and performers who have more than a trace of me-ism. Studies have shown that having this trait helps to withstand the pressures of being in the public eye.
Well, it's true that some people were/are able to withstand combat without cracking and some are not. Is that untrue or insulting?

But he isn't running for an Oscar or an Emmy or a Grammy, he's running to be President. And it isn't really an Oscar-worthy performance.

I don't know, ZB: you are laying in a dugout taking fire, fellow soldiers laying there next to you. An hour or so in, a little mortar round explodes on the other side of the guy laying next to you, your partner for the last year in all this shit. You look over and the whole right side of his body is missing, but he isn't quite dead yet, you talk for a couple of minutes until he dies. After the battle is over, and for the next 15 years or so, you can't sleep at night, all you can see is your friend oozing out on the ground while you wonder why it was him and not you. Finally you can't take it any more and you get your gun and stick it in your mouth and blow the top of your head off so you can quit seeing that picture. Your epitaph is Donald Trump telling the world what a weak-dick you were. Wonderful.

[Turner]

All "democracies" were, are and always will be in fact oligarchies. Exactlly how extensive, rich, powerful and disconnected from the people the oligarchy is depends from country to country.

............. and the exact process of historical change, for the better or worse.

[drogulus]

     In a Time of Trump, Millennial Jews Awaken to Anti-Semitism

[(poco) Sforzando]

Well, it's true that some people were/are able to withstand combat without cracking and some are not. Is that untrue or insulting?

It is not untrue. Coming from the same foul mind that ridicules a reporter for a disability, stays up all night tweeting about a woman's weight, and comments about his own daughter's hot body, it is egregiously insulting. And you are voting for this reptile to lead our great nation.

[Karl Henning]

But, this reptile is so presidential!

http://www.youtube.com/v/Xbs7Re49SqA

He's going to lead this country when he cannot be bothered to prep for a debate with Clinton?  Give me a break.  Give me a break.

[zamyrabyrd]

But, this reptile is so presidential!
He's going to lead this country when he cannot be bothered to prep for a debate with Clinton?  Give me a break.  Give me a break.

More likely he did prepare, and how! It was only being disingenuous like a kid saying he didn't prepare for a test but got an A anyway. Makes him SEEM smarter.
I don't know why he keeps digging his own grave every time he opens his mouth, though...