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

feel the bern!

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2015/09/10/quinnipiac-poll-bernie-sanders-thunders-into--lead--iowa/71992926/

bernie vs. the donald in the general would be epic

so not gonna happen

Younger caucusgoers are choosing Sanders in a landslide – 66 percent of those ages 18 to 34 pick him, versus 19 percent who choose Clinton.

how does all this compare with howard dean in 2004? of course, dean was among a larger field of democratic candidates.

yeah, as I mentioned somewhere above, Hillary's trying to shut out the field has driven all the Not Hillary voters into Bernie's arms.

http://31.media.tumblr.com/325b5e57e4b34167b3194ce8410ccad1/tumblr_nuhjugqaCZ1qdmmiqo1_500.gif

Donald Trump really appreciates his daughter Ivanka's good looks – probably a little too much.

In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Trump delivered a more-than-vaguely-sexual response when the magazine's reporter praised Ivanka Trump, a prominent businesswoman in her own right.

"Yeah, she's really something, and what a beauty, that one. If I weren't happily married and, ya know, her father ..." he said.

It's hardly the first time Trump, the Republican Party's 2016 frontrunner, has gone a shade too far complimenting his daughter.

"If Ivanka weren't my daughter, perhaps I'd be dating her," Trump cracked in a now-infamous 2006 interview with "The View."

Three years earlier, the billionaire real estate mogul described Ivanka as "6 feet tall" with "the best body" during an appearance on Howard Stern's shock jock radio show.

Trump also used the occasion of the Rolling Stone interview to take shots at fellow GOP candidate Carly Fiorina's appearance, reportedly saying "Look at that face!"

lol ivanka is pretty hot

biden apparently sounded like he's not running on colbert tonight

well, yeah, it was always long odds he'd jump in. he had his flings at running for president a while ago and never got any traction.

Carson still the only other candidate climbing, everyone else seems to be level or in free fall (how are there still 17 of them?) - has anyone other written anything about him other than that Digby piece last week?

His star will begin its decline once 'One Wittle Wee Wee' goes hardcore viral.

dude is herman cain 2.0

brain brain brain is the new nine nine nine

"BRAIN AND BRAIN, WHAT IS BRAIN?" - Carson/Spock '16

concernstipated Dem leaders prepare a Plan B to humphreyize Sanders

“If party leaders see a scenario next winter where Bernie Sanders has a real chance at the Democratic nomination, I think there’s no question that leaders will reach out to Vice President Biden or Secretary of State Kerry or even Gore about entering the primaries,” said Garnet F. Coleman, a Texas state lawmaker and Democratic national committeeman.

Even if none of those Democrats were to announce candidacies this fall, some party officials and strategists suggested that Mr. Biden could be laying the groundwork for an 11th-hour rescue mission during the winter primaries if Mrs. Clinton’s campaign began to implode. Similarly, Mr. Kerry’s friends say they believe he would hear out party leaders if Mr. Sanders appeared likely to capture the nomination and they implored Mr. Kerry, who would have to resign as secretary of state, to try to block him.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/10/us/politics/big-name-plan-bs-for-democrats-concerned-about-hillary-clinton.html

Biden, Kerry, Gore: WHAT A FUTURE

bs-for-democrats

at this point what makes party satraps think Sanders will lose?

May or may not be a rhetorical question.

Charles Pierce:

Leave aside the inescapable fact of political gravity that, as soon as he announces, his numbers begin to slide. Leave aside that his record as a senator is not exactly a progressive's dream, and the only way to campaign effectively against Hillary Rodham Clinton is to come at her from the left, as Bernie Sanders has shown, and as Jim Webb has demonstrated from the other direction through his functional invisibility. Leave aside the fact that he's tried it twice already and been crushed both times, once by Michael Dukakis, which ought to give anyone pause. Leave aside the fact that the whole boomlet thing seems to be the product of staffers, in Washington and in Delaware, who still see him as their last main chance. Those people are vampires.

But leave all that aside. Joe Biden shouldn't run for president because he shouldn't do it to himself. He has earned a unique place in the country's heart, which is a far warmer place for him as a human being than shivering in some cornfield outside Ottumwa in the cold winter winds. A presidential campaign is a soulless mechanism designed to grind the human spirit into easily digestible nuggets. Moments of profound personal pain and loss are as unavoidable as are concussions in the NFL. It was almost unbearable to watch him speak of his son's death even to someone as profoundly compassionate as Colbert. I would hate to see him coin that grief into political currency, or fashion it into a portion of a stump speech that would become banal the second time it was delivered. I think, at some level, he would come to hate himself for having to do that. It's not that I wouldn't vote for Joe Biden, though I probably wouldn't. It's that I don't want to see him hurt any more.

such a lot of sentimental horseshit for a man who doesn't deserve it.

Or for Biden either.

gore would never, ever do it. not that he wouldn't be way better than clinton or biden.

Nooooo, he was so clearly on the path to victory

https://twitter.com/cbsbaltimore/status/642446547901358080

Apparently god told him to quit

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/09/11/rick-perry-suspends-presidential-bid/

Christ to Perry: "Oops."

god otm

He's just suspended it, that's all. He just needs to find the right pair of glasses, something a little more worldly and sagacious.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_6xoH967aC00/TOMfgQQJylI/AAAAAAAAbTw/Mx6YtQJQ49k/s400/reign030.jpg

BREAKING: Perry rejoins race advocating swift and brutal laser-vision-based law-and-order policies

i just wonder who'll snap up his 1.2%. could be a game-changer.

also: does this mean the old clown car is breaking up??

Maybe Perry will come back wearing EnChromas in a misguided attempt to reach out to minority voters.

@daveweigel
Huckabee says we need to vet refugees: "Are they just coming because they've got cable TV? I'm not trying to be trite, I just don't know."

gaffe! a serious presidential candidate would know about the cable tv sitch

feel the bern

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/09/hillary-clinton-donors-bernie-sanders-do-not-ignore-213526

It was kind of weird that it remained a field of 17 for so long, but I guess that's partly explained by the fact that no one wants to be the first of 17 candidates to drop out.

Syrians are coming over for their free obamaphones

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-ZZw5vylx4

The focus of McAfee's presidency would be on restoring privacy. "Thankfully, Edward Snowden notified us that the NSA had been spying on the American public for years, using tax dollars that I thought were being spent to spy on our potential enemies, like China, Russia, not that they are enemies, but how would we know if we don't use our technology to try to find out?"

Techcrunch suggested that McAfee's cause is right, but the candidate is wrong, that he "may end up doing more harm than good for the issue, given the guy's pretty bizarre antics and his reputation for paranoia." Those "antics" include faking a heart attack to flee Guatemala and get to the U.S. after authorities in Belize wanted to talk to him about a neighbor's murder.

McAfee responded that he's never been charged with the murder of his neighbor, and that he has agreed to answer questions from Belizean authorities if they meet in a neutral country. "I was wanted for questioning in a Third World country in Central America," he told CNBC. "You understand what that means? They string you up by your heels, put a football helmet on your head and pound it until your brain turns to mush. That's not the type of questioning I was interested in."

As for his recent arrest for DUI in Tennessee, which he earlier told CNBC was a case of taking too much Xanax on the first day of a new prescription, McAfee said a blood test should vindicate him and the case will be dismissed. "Even if it is not, does that invalidate my vision, my experience, my capabilities? I believe we have all made some mistakes."

At the same time, he expressed admiration for the other presidential candidates—"I think they are all nice people, (but) I think I am really the most competent person to run this country." He highlighted two of his rivals in particular with unusual compliments. "I think Hillary Clinton is very smart and a very gracious woman for having put up with Bill all those years. Donald Trump is smart and obviously a highly refined and competent entrepreneur. The only question I would ask him is, 'Donald, what's with the hair?'"

McAfee hasn't come up with a campaign slogan yet—"have to ask my manager"—but he said he's started raising money, though he's not sure how much. "I've been working 22 hours a day talking to the press and trying to understand the chaos around me.”

Just when you thought this car couldn't possibly fit more clowns, out pops another.

I'm definitely experiencing schadenfreude watching the GOP have to deal with Trump. After 25 years of conservative hyper-partisan brick bat hyperbole in their radio and TV media turning everything into the end of civilization they finally have lost control of the asylum. I think it kind of started with Pat Buchanan where you started having these political media talking heads just running to raise their profile and it has now escalated to a strange reality TV show that got usurped by a professional reality TV star. I got to think once voting actually starts Trump will come apart, but I hope he hangs around for a good long while.

at this point what makes party satraps think Sanders will lose?

May or may not be a rhetorical question.

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, September 11, 2015 3:47 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

what makes you think that they think he would? what i think they think, and what i think is hard to deny, is that he does not poll as well as either clinton or biden against the other side. obviously that's partly a function of name recognition, but just as obviously it's partly a function of (explicitly "socialist," however democratic) ideology and the fact that he's a brooklyn jew representing one of the (smallest,) most liberal and furthest northern states in america (see also minnesotan norwegian-american Walter Mondale and bronx/queens italian-american Gerry Ferraro, winners of 13 electoral votes, as well as bostonian greek-american michael dukakis, winner of 111 with a texan at his side, neither of whom could call upon a special appeal to the african- or asian-american communities as did far more mainstream illinoisan german/african-american obama, born and raised in the pacific, and neither of whom faced an opponent as abhorrent to the hispanic community as Donald Trump would be but Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio might not). there is some democratic advantage baked into the cake that may mean a win for whomever is the nominee, but as long as victory is subject to doubt, if you care about winning (and the other side's losing), you don't pick the most extreme and relatively unknown outlier in your coalition, you pick a central and well-known/-liked name who will get its diverse membership (a substantial portion of which would not identify with sanders as either individual or ideologue) to the polls and have some marginal appeal to the other side. fairly obvious stuff.

Humphrey (191 electoral votes) too was a Minnesotan Norwegian-American and his running mate was a Polish-American (originally Marciszewski) Mainer.

(half-norwegian)

not that even partially-Czech(-Jewish)-descended John Kerry didn't "look French" either. perhaps his near-success suggests that we're more enlightened these days, but perhaps he would have done better if he'd been someone else.

dude, no need for the compilation of Wiki facts. In 2008 a candidate whose voting record and convictions weren't much different from HRC except for not being in the Senate when the Iraq War needed authorization got the nomination despite being black and socialist and Kenyan for millions of people who probably ended up voting for him anyway. We're already dealing with a primary season in which Trump's leading and a self-professed socialist leads in some polls. It's September 2015. Lots of shit can happen that can fuck with your condescension.

Have you met Gabbneb's condescension before?

When symmetry required DLC talking points, yes.

Did you actually read what I wrote? It was highly relevant that he was from middle-American Illinois and shares the most predominant ethnic heritage in America (if only because we make such fine distinctions as to the British isles, from which Appalachians don't acknowledge they hail). Or did you think it was because he was "black and socialist and Kenyan" that in 2008 he won neighboring Indiana (only because of the third-party candidate, as in NC, but still), came within 2/10 of a percent in neighboring Missouri, and pushed nearly the entire mountain west leftward, losing Montana by less than 1/2 a percent? That would seem to prove my point that a half-African-American has broader appeal than someone from a more minoritarian white-ethnic heritage like mine, with the substantial number of Democrats who would not vote for him because of his race outweighed by the number of additional African-Americans who turned out on his behalf, as they did in a greater percentage than whites in 2012.

If you want to call marshaling actual evidence and actually answering your question with substance condescending, so be it, but the condescension is actually found in your response.

"We're already dealing with a primary season in which Trump's leading and a self-professed socialist leads in some polls."

plurality candidates, and one only in two small states, one of which is adjacent to the one he represents and arguably both of whose democratic primary/caucus electorates are dominated by the left.

It's pretty close to a Tuomas.

if only because we make such fine distinctions as to the British isles, from which Appalachians don't acknowledge they hail

Which is obviously why they call themselves "Scots-Irish."

about time someone took on the unions and restored prosperity to this nation

http://news.yahoo.com/ap-exclusive-gops-walker-proposes-vast-union-restrictions-040129104--finance.html

I like that Charles Pierce has been flagellating himself in his new articles for thinking scott walker was a dangerous threat. Dude is a fucking clown.

shares the most predominant ethnic heritage in America

German-American?