Countdown to Extinction: The 2016 Presidential Election

[knight66]

Thanks Karl, it seems that the Cruz team did well in spending where it would be effective. Whereas Trump as president would make me want to distance myself....to Mars, for Cruz, perhaps Central Africa would be far enough.

Mike

[drogulus]

     If the GOPs won't coalesce behind Rubio and grab this opportunity to save themselves, the voters may force their hand. In the finest "causation runs both ways" tradition, it will be voters that break the "who's our guy to thwart the barbarians?" dilemma, and now the GOPs will force Bush, Kasich, Christie to bow out, at which point the Great Aggregation can commence and the Barbarous Two will face a unified party that should triumph all the way to the general election slaughter by Mommie Dearest.

     Hillary is not well liked. Personally she's charming and makes friends easily. It doesn't come across to the public, though. Her presentation is wooden. No one can make the truth sound like a lie or an evasion like she can. So when she lies or evades people think she's always doing it. What about the emails? She certainly broke the rules and the law, I suppose. The election will effectively pardon her, which is OK by me.

[Gurn Blanston]

He didn't even wait until all the votes were counted.

I saw his little speech this morning, hilarious:

"I'm not withdrawing because of the lack of votes, I'm withdrawing because of illness: the voters are sick of me"!

That really is a spot-on analysis, the first one he has made in months.

[Gurn Blanston]

Thanks Karl, it seems that the Cruz team did well in spending where it would be effective. Whereas Trump as president would make me want to distance myself....to Mars, for Cruz, perhaps Central Africa would be far enough.

Mike

As much as I dislike Trump and his politics, I would vote for him in a heartbeat in a 2 man race with Cruz.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Thanks Karl, it seems that the Cruz team did well in spending where it would be effective. Whereas Trump as president would make me want to distance myself....to Mars, for Cruz, perhaps Central Africa would be far enough.

Mike

Yes, but you don't have to live here. We do.

[drogulus]

      My brother attended a Sanders rally, where someone asked "how are you going to do what you say you're going to do?" He sad "I won't, you will".

      And of course he's right. If voters elect a Wall St candidate from either party, Wall St will "do it". If voters elect a candidate with no big money backing, it will be a massive thumb off the scale.

      Voters must force change, and it doesn't end with the election, it starts there. Sanders promises that progressives will have a shot with him in the WH. A big obstacle will be, at least for a time, held in check.

      Sanders will peak in N.H., and after that the boom will go bust.

[(poco) Sforzando]

As much as I dislike Trump and his politics, I would vote for him in a heartbeat in a 2 man race with Cruz.

I think I would experience an atrial fibrillation in such a case.

[Karl Henning]

As much as I dislike Trump and his politics, I would vote for him in a heartbeat in a 2 man race with Cruz.

Non sanz droict.

[Karl Henning]

Sanders will peak in N.H., and after that the boom will go bust.

That is a very reasonable expectation (and Hillary must be hoping, and machinationing).  We shall see.

[The new erato]

As much as I dislike Trump and his politics, I would vote for him in a heartbeat in a 2 man race with Cruz.

+1, even though With European eyes they are both from Mars.

[drogulus]

     Cruz should think on Presidents Santorum and Huckabee. They won Iowa.

     Rubio should think on his climate change denialism, and how to pivot away from it if he gets the nomination. If he doesn't he gives a chunk of the electorate in the middle to Hillary. No Repub can give away more chunks.

     Trump will eventually founder on his rhetorical extremism, Cruz on his genuine extremism. Rubio needs to navigate a narrow channel. It's doable for him. After he gets the nomination he can meet with the Florida mayors who selfishly want to keep their towns above water, and be "persuaded" that the Liberal Hoax is not so hoaxy as he had thought.

[Gurn Blanston]

I think I would experience an atrial fibrillation in such a case.

I damn near had one just writing that.

[Todd]

Can someone explain to me please? The analysis on radio in the UK today was suggesting that we have seen the effective end of Trump.

The white trash vote wasn't big enough to carry Trump to victory in Iowa.  It might be in New Hampshire.

      My brother attended a Sanders rally, where someone asked "how are you going to do what you say you're going to do?" He sad "I won't, you will".

      And of course he's right. If voters elect a Wall St candidate from either party, Wall St will "do it". If voters elect a candidate with no big money backing, it will be a massive thumb off the scale.

How charmingly naïve. 

[Gurn Blanston]

+1, even though With European eyes they are both from Mars.

Yes, I can see that, although there is a fair share of extremism in Europe too, as my friend in Zurich has recently apprised me.

Cruz isn't from Mars, the really sad thing is he is from Texas. He ran for senator here when our only moderate representative retired, not because he wanted to be a senator but because he saw Obama take that bridge to the presidency, which is his only interest. In the 4 years he has held that seat, he has not done 1 single thing for the people of this state except for bringing embarrassment with his constant demagoguery. He is the poster child for the Party of No.

In addition, I have no interest in a person's religion, I couldn't care less that he is a so-called Evangelical Christian. But he is using that as his qualification for office! So now I am interested because I have to be, and even though I already despised him, now he has made it a religious war. He has advocated carpet-bombing ISIS (to use his own words) which is the sort of policy which directly states that collateral damage doesn't matter (since they are Muslims anyway).

I have never understood the politics of hate. It is Un-American and against everything this country stands for. If this sort of cheap, rabble-rousing rhetoric actually carries this douchebag to the highest office in the Land, I will have to seriously consider alternatives.

Oh wait, you said Mars? Ooops...   0:)

[knight66]

I saw his little speech this morning, hilarious:

"I'm not withdrawing because of the lack of votes, I'm withdrawing because of illness: the voters are sick of me"!

That really is a spot-on analysis, the first one he has made in months.

On the BBC site it used the term 'suspending' his campaign. Is that like hanging it precariously over the South Rim of the Grand Canyon?

[knight66]

As much as I dislike Trump and his politics, I would vote for him in a heartbeat in a 2 man race with Cruz.

That is as grisly a thought as I have seen expressed on this site.

Mike

[Gurn Blanston]

On the BBC site it used the term 'suspending' his campaign. Is that like hanging it procariously over the South Rim of the Grand Canyon?

  I don't know. Rick Perry did the same thing a few months ago, and now he is talking about un-suspending it. So I suppose anything is possible. In Huckabee's case, I hope he meant suspending it until 2020...

[knight66]

Well, once Wiggy suspends himself, let's hope that the Evil Texan gets dumped. We have nutters here, but none I think who will get power any time soon and want to do the likes of carpet bomb areas of the Middle East, (now known as the Near East). Would the military follow that kind of instruction? 'I was just following orders' did not wash for the Germans after WWII.

Mike

[drogulus]

How charmingly naïve. 

     Of course such changes are naive, and it's thinking that reform is naive in advance of its enactment that makes you look smart. It can't happen, so right up to the point where it does happen, it won't. But Sanders is correct that politicians have to be pushed, even in the direction they want to go, mainly because they need help from other politicians who don't want to go that way but will if they're pushed, too. Consider also that it's not just a matter of what reformers want, it's the relative power of the BushClinton antireformists. The potential constituency for a pro growth policy isn't confined to left activists, it could be very broad, with Trumpists, labor, centrist Repubs, and most of the Dems. Sanders is only saying what FDR might have said: you have to make me do what I want to do.

     I don't think Sanders can get the nomination. That's too bad, because I think he could win the general.

[Karl Henning]

Krauthammer feels that only the top three should stay in the race;  but Jeb is holding a town hall in the Granite State even as we speak.

Jeb Bush spent $2,800 per vote in Iowa and received less than 3 percent of the vote. ... That's about 18 times as much money as first-place winner spent for each vote he received.