a clown car full of millionaires: the 2016 presidential primary thread

it's like an over eager answer to a question no one asked

but who's gonna—

JEB!

it's like an over eager answer to a question no one asked

Feel like an ellipse would be more honest, given the current state of his campaign.

Jeb...

I like to pretend that jeb is a threatening verbal command like "stop or I will JEB!"

Jeb?

If only he had an "i" for an initial he could do the P!nk thing

)3b1

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/WilliamCrump63/JEB.jpg

“We all have to get real about the clown car of Republican candidates that could very well be the limousine the next president is riding around in,” said Damian O'Doherty, who heads up the super PAC helping Democratic candidate Martin O'Malley.

immortality is mine

https://cdn0.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/tBuvhGTwwRJgqsIdV4gRUlSmF8I=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/3923910/trump-immigration.0.png

I think Sanders could win the general if he got there and is a much better politician than Warren.

I'm quite taken aback by how bad all the Republican frontrunners are, yet again. I guess the best option is Scott Walker, who has a weird head and ethics investigations.

"Best option," shiiiiiiiit. He's a corrupt, anti-union ass who looks like a drunk cartoon dog.

a sanders/walker election could be very clarifying for the US in terms of how we want our labor policies to look

i was thinking that about sanders/trump

I'm quite taken aback by how bad all the Republican frontrunners are, yet again.

Likewise, and I'm starting to think the reason all Repubs bow down to Reagan is not that he espoused brilliant conservative policies but because he was charismatic, and they know that's what they need.

I guess that's a good chunk of Bernie's popular appeal too.

dude, u did not fucking invent "clown car"

i heard HRC's robotic rehearsed "Black lives matter" on NPR and wanted to puke in her hair.

nice, morbs

is this thread for dem candidates too? anyway vox interview with bernie: http://www.vox.com/2015/7/28/9014491/bernie-sanders-vox-conversation

Sanders is not a millionaire to my knowledge, but I'm pretty sure everybody else involved is? It would be weird to give one candidate his own separate thread.

oh i just wasn't sure whether the "clown car" was referring specifically to the GOP candidates

i think the clown car is big enough for everyone

walker, sanders, and rubio (and biden if he somehow decided to run) aren't millionaires. walker's the poorest (by some margin), then sanders, then rubio. lindsey graham is barely a millionaire as is rand paul though tbf we have no idea how much gold rand paul has buried in his yard. elizabeth warren is pretty wealthy if she decided to run. you can probably guess the two wealthiest candidates, but can you guess the third wealthiest? hint: democrat.

is JEB! richer than hillary?

but can you guess the third wealthiest?

i always forget about his weird writing history, like the script to Rules of Engagement

lincoln chaffee wrote rules of engagement? i loved that show!

have you forgotten

http://i.imgur.com/eMOICrK.png

anyhow i guess this isn't a secret since i found plenty of sources and maybe i'm some liberal elitist for finding it amusing but scott walker owes $50,000 to sears.

Republicans are all richies (the way Dems think)

An interesting thing (from an admittedly specific perspective) is that the end of the first sentence in the answer to the first question in the Bernie interview ("Please terrify us with your socialist views") mentions the middle class and working families, as those are the phrases used in the UK as a fig leaf for crushing the poor and those on benefits - and picked up by the neoliberal end 75% of the Labour party as what they want to keep doing if you'd vote for them.

He walks it back over the course of the interview though, seems like a nice smart guy, dodges the China question hardcore.

same phrases in the US; we don't talk about the poor

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/07/theres-something-about-bernie/399740/

There are no laugh lines in Sanders’s speech. (As one longtime associate memorably described his delivery to Politico: “Straight ahead, growl. Straight ahead, growl.”) “Citizens United is moving this country toward an oligarchic society!” he says. The grannies have gotten out of their chairs and are walking around banging on their glasses.

The Sanders revolution, any political movement to change things, will be spearheaded by the olds. Excluding old people was one of the big causes for why the 60s counterculture failed. The hipsters will come along but it's the older folks that will win it for Bernie if his longest of shots has a chance

Rick Perlstein is mad: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/holy-grail-of-gop-primaries

I honestly think Sanders has zero shot, at all, but the constant drone of the supporters is beginning to resonate w/me tbh

You know who else they thought had a zero shot? The humble immigrant from Kenya...

Except not really. The Dem primary in 2008 was a two person race from the beginning.

Publically, I wouldn't say right from the beginning (Obama floundered early on); out of view, yes. That's something I learned from Alfred's most revered journalist, Mark Halperin in Game Change--that even though Hillary publically had the party's support, there was lots of stuff happening in the background for Obama.

this is quinnicpac's numbers at this point in 2007 - Hillary Clinton 36%, Barack Obama 21%, Al Gore 15%, John Edwards 9%, Bill Richardson 3%, Joe Biden 2%, Dennis Kucinich 1%, Chris Dodd 0%, Mike Gravel 0%, Other/Don't know 11%

tbf comparing this point in 2007 to now is tricky, by this point in 2007 there had been a few debates and the campaign had been legitimately going since january. late enough that it was probably becoming apparent this wasn't a three man race, that edwards support really wasn't there (the rielle hunter story didn't come out until summer 08 i think, i know it was late enough that there was speculation of edwards trying to get attorney general for his endorsement, though the story had been openly whispered about and i think national enquirer may have even broken it though 'legit' press hadn't followed up yet). early enough that name recognition is still the most important factor (this notion that obama was obscure before 2008 is a persistent myth - he'd had two bestselling books, he had a huge rockstar crowd at his announcement, he'd done the talk show circuit repeatedly, his keynote address got john john/cuomo type coverage, as politicians go he was pretty damn famous) and there's still (sorta, in reality it's probably too late logistically) the possibility for a late entrant savior on a white horse. everyone's gonna giggle or point at the first name here in quinnipac's gop numbers at this point in 2007 - Rudy Giuliani 28%, Mitt Romney 15%, Fred Thompson 12%, John McCain 11%, Newt Gingrich 7%, Mike Huckabee 2%, Ron Paul 2%, Sam Brownback 1%, Duncan Hunter 1%, Tom Tancredo 1%, Tommy Thompson 1%, Jim Gilmore 0%, Other (vol.) 3%, Wouldn't vote (vol.) 2%, Unsure 16% - but it's that second name that makes me smile.

geez, I remember goddamn NRO impressed with Barack Hussein Obama in late '06 and early '07. Andrew Sullivan wrote his famous cover story in December '07 saying he was the best candidate; still didn't think he'd get the nod.

lol sorry, mean third name. though mitt makes me smile too.

From that Atlantic article, two illustrations of the kind of voters I was referring to in a post last week:

“So many of us have been thinking these things for so long,” adds his wife, Marian Kuper, who is wearing a button featuring Rosie the Riveter saying, “Bern Baby Bern!” “It’s refreshing to hear someone state the case in a real way!” The Kupers say they will happily vote for whoever becomes the Democratic nominee next November. “But we’ll fight like hell for Bernie until that happens,” she says.

...

The other, Sue Ellen CrossLea, a retired government worker and former Peace Corps volunteer, was a member of the Democratic Socialists of America in her 20s. “Hillary is for the big boys, I’m afraid,” she says. “If she wins the nomination, I’ll work my butt off for her, but I’m not going to work for her to be the nominee—I just don’t agree with her.”

This being the Atlantic, I would not suppose that if reporter had talked to anybody who said, "pick Bernie OR ELSE!" those voices would have ended up in the article anyway. But here's a hint for the Kupers: you're not "fighting like hell for Bernie" by admitting that you will just vote for whoever ends up as the Democratic Party nominee anyway. I'm not sure you even count as supporters.

My recollection was that he was just sort of around until Iowa, and that Clinton's only bump was that driver's license stuff in the one debate. I stand corrected re those numbers above--with Gore not in it, it was a two-person race pretty early.

lol tommy thompson's name up there take me back also. had totally forgotten he was briefly actually a candidate, he was one of those midwestern governors whose names always came up in the 90s. did you know john engler is still alive?

Fred Thompson gave an excellent impersonation of a living man during the debates.

His candidacy was just a convenient pathway to his life as the face of reverse mortgages.

2008 Primaries Thread

i literally have no idea if trump is gonna go full trump in the debate or if he's gonna learn a move from reagan and let himself appear reasonable, mature, and electable.

i literally have no idea if trump is gonna go full trump in the debate or if he's gonna learn a move from reagan and let himself appear reasonable, mature, and electable.
--balls

The latter

Fred Thompson gave an excellent impersonation of a living man during the debates.

Big phlegm problems for Fred, I can relate with the mountain cedar allergies this summer

or if he's gonna learn a move from reagan and let himself appear reasonable, mature, and electable

I'll believe that when I see it. Not having ever seen him appear reasonable, mature or electable at any point in the last 30 years, I have trouble believing he can pull that off for even 10 minutes.

LOL at him appearing any of those things.