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

http://bl.ocks.org/mbostock/4062006

On issues like abortion he's more sensible than the GOP consensus though - certainly than some of his competitors.

He's not sensible on abortion anymore.

Right. But still way more moderate than some of his competitors here. Did he say it should be illegal?

xxxxpost "A Hope and Change?"

https://jeb2016.com/shop/lifestyle/guaca-bowle/

no Jeb! logo or anything. just a fucking bowl.

i like to think that thing is 7 ft wide

this seems a bit odd?

https://jeb2016.com/shop/clothing/my-dad-shirt/

"Jeb sums up his love for his dad in one powerful quote. Let’s hope you don’t want to step outside."

jeb contracted zazzle to do his merch

love how the dude's wearing a late '90s haircut

Rand Paul ought to wear that t-shirt to the next debate.

"Internet Commenters for Trump".

Not to make this all about myself but I was probably the best dressed person there. I invented my own shirt and American flag shorts that I made out of pants:

https://cdn0.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/fUqrvkcFUwdt9Jfqc6wEXeVsOO0=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/3949040/commenter.0.JPG

I was there to represent those without a voice- the truly most discriminated class in America. As liberal paper's of record such as the Washington Post continue to silents our first amendment right to free speech by eliminated comment sections, Im reminded of a old poem from a author long forgotten: "First they came for the internet commenters, and I said nothing."

My message struck a chord with many of the local Cleveland TV reporter's who intervewed me as I carried my d-fence sign as a show of solidarty with other internet commenters to "keep the noise going" in the comments and "dont let the enemy audble."

In case you cant tell I played a bit of competitive football back in my day and learned a few tricks on keeping your oppnet uncomfortable.

Jeb’s secret guacamole recipe not included…yet.

lmao @ guaca bowle

guacabowly

If & when they got an order would they just run down to Target and get one for liked $20 and throw it in the mail?

http://images.tvrage.com/screencaps/31/6109/202490.jpg

http://thegildedlily.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/24-prisoner-free-for-all.jpg

"Let's hope you don't live in an oil rich nation."

Counterpunch credits Trump with "two glorious minutes of pure, unalloyed truth on national television."

Huckabee also wandered off the reservation a bit with this little truth bomb:

"One of the reasons that Social Security is in so much trouble is that the only funding stream comes from people who get a wage. The people who get wages is declining dramatically. Most of the income in this country is made by people at the top who get dividends and -- and capital gains."

might as well toss this on the fire, trump on cnn tonight re Megyn Kelly: "You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her... wherever."

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/gop-primaries/250586-limbaugh-rips-fox-news-for-war-on-women-question

didn't watch the debate but heard from respectable sources that fox clearly seemed to be targeting trump. i know this will blow some of yr minds but a considerable portion of their audience considers fox too liberal and it's especially faced criticism over this on the immigration issue. what's funny is that trump had said time and time again he'd only consider a third party run if the republicans weren't nice to him and instead of the party being patient enough to humour him for a little while longer and let support for the actual nominee accrue as the losers started to drop out they may have added more fuel to the nightmare. very intersted to see what happens to trump's numbers post-debate. i can imagine a boost and i can imagine his balloon being popped. curious what happens w/ kasich and rubio's numbers as well, apparently they handled themselves well (whatever 'well' means).

xp jesus christ

A darker, grittier rebooting of A Face In The Crowd. Based on the PKD story.

I'm torn between thinking that Trump is playing some clever game to get free press through these ridiculous provocations, and thinking that he just has no filter. It's probably a bit of both. It's kind of fun to see him veering ever closer to the guardrail, waiting for the inevitable spin out.

his ego has been telling him he should do it for awhile and i'd guess he had a lot of regret over not running in 2012 (his twitter feed that night was wonderful), that he could've definitely won and either age/bucket list or bill clinton prompted him to actually run this time. maybe he was just bored.

Camille gives em whatfor!

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/camille-paglia-john-kasich-won-813657

Erin Gloria Ryan ‏@morninggloria 20m20 minutes ago

"Mr. Trump, what is your plan for reigning in government waste?"
"Megyn, I will be relying on deez."
"Can you explain what y-"
"DEEZ NUTS"

Xpost Paglia is the worst

Caligula, anyone?

It's probably a bit of both.

Other than Fiona and that surgeon guy, all the rest of the candidates come from a political background where they've won elections and learned hard lessons about corralling a majority of votes. Trump's most recent experience with presenting himself to the public is via schlocky reality television shows, where he's learned valuable lessons about pumping up ratings, but not winning votes or elections.

This stage of the campaign suits Trump best, where the endless opinion polls are more like ratings than a real election. In that way he's very analogous to Herman Cain, who was also a showman and a fraud and who showed well in opinion polls but faded badly when it came to getting votes.

..and not sexually harassing women. Those were his Achilles heels, getting votes and not sexually harassing women.

Yeah, Cain was out of the whole thing before Iowa even caucused. Even though Donald Trump doesn't have as much money as he'd like us to believe he does, he's not going anywhere until after he loses a few states.

feel like Kasich really is the stealth runner - he's like Walker with less baggage because his union-busting didn't call down as much attention on his head

I guess when even Erick Erickson thinks you've gone too far...naah, he hasn't gone far enough yet.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/08/08/donald-trump-disinvited-to-speak-at-redstate-event-megyn-kelly-invited/

That's great.

Erickson: "I think there is a line of decency that even a non-professional politician can cross."

Earlier in the piece: "(Erickson) has also drawn criticism for saying impolitic things, once calling retired Supreme Court Justice David Souter an '(expletive) child molester' and First Lady Michelle Obama a 'Marxist harpy.' He has since apologized for both comments."

I'm guessing Trump right now is for the Republicans what Wallace was for the Democrats in '68.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CL4_4qGVAAAQ_5V.jpg

Wallace was the leader of a wing of the party that had been vocal and agitating for 20 years, and he'd been a governor for one full term already. xp

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CL5HQSKWUAATjUk.png

Guys, political correctness is weakening America.

Which usually means "But how come black people can call each other that if we can't say it?!" but in this case also includes menstruation jokes older than the fucking pyramids.

Not even jokes, really, just idiotic sexist blathering.

Yes people are overly sensitive about things, except for the people complaining about it.

It's ok to be overly sensitive only if the thing you are sensitive about is other people being sensitive.

It's a rock-solid ideological position.

http://inthesetimes.com/article/18279/scott-walker-is-an-american-dictator-in-waiting

“I find [ him ] more Nixonian than even Richard Nixon himself (the authoritarian leader with whom I was, and am, so very familiar,” wrote ex-Nixon White House Counsel John Dean in April 2012, on the eve of a special gubernatorial recall election Walker won. “To me, it is clear that Wisconsin has a double high authoritarian governor, a conservative without conscience.”

Today, three years later, Walker is parading around the campaign trail like an American dictator in waiting. He has a lengthy record on so many issues that reveal the same pattern: pick fights, launch sneak attacks, smear and scapegoat opponents, and then punish the defeated, according to Wisconsin media analysts. But he also has the personality of an aspiring American tyrant, as Dean noted. Walker may not be Wisconsin Sen. Joe McCarthy’s ghost, but he certainly is heir to that anti-communist crusader’s hateful lineage.

“Democracy and democratic institutions do not function well with dogmatic, unbending authoritarian leaders,” Dean wrote. “Authoritarians are great as dictators, and even at times benevolent. They are often outstanding at running businesses, and when serving as high-ranking officers in the military, not to mention law enforcement. But they are failures as presidents and governors, and… dangerous to democracy.”

pick fights, launch sneak attacks, smear and scapegoat opponents, and then punish the defeated

...or as Charlie Sheen might express it: winning!

Walker and Cruz both have those churchy, eyebrows-perpetually-raised faces that look like the lids over endless pits of hell.

Walker definitely has the right 'feel' of an authoritarian-in-waiting - that Nixonian, McCarthyite whiff. I could picture him playing the malevolent politician from The Dead Zone. The hope is that America actually has no stomach for his ideas, and/or that if he tries to play "moderate" whoever runs against him can effectively point up the way that (as summarized in that article, which overall I think falls short of proving its claims) he's repeatedly brought in really brutal, unasked-for policies for which he did not have a mandate. What will be his surprise for America?

i can already see the eleventh-hour rezoning proposals pushed through to prohibit any building from rising high enough in the air to see the tops of the heads of the statues of our fearless leader