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

It’s cynical to run as the creature of new, fresh, while it’s all secret dark money. Maybe from one person, we don’t know. It’s cynical to say, “I’m going to take the lead on defeating this horrible Iran deal that we all hate,” and broadcast your ads to defeat that deal only on the Fox Network, where everybody is already against the deal, instead of running those ads on MSNBC to pressure Democratic senators that were the outcome to beating that deal.

this is almost rove-level though - who is this sneaky character, running ads targeted to REPUBLICANS during the republican primary? a real american would be campaigning in the OTHER party clearly! what else don't we know about this "marco" and his shadowy dark money?

"the american people have no fucking clue" cynicism of that murphy guy is only tempered by his inability to realize that his own candidate is similarly dead in the water

whether or not he realizes this is not gonna come across in a interview that he's doing to market the bush candidacy

He is also really high on the idea that 'positive conservatism' is the majority view amongst republican, as opposed to 'grievance conservatism', considering the latest WaPo-ABC polls have Trump, Carson, Cruz and Fiorina combining for 65%.

positive conservatism
compassionate conservatism

Is the data-mining stuff more creepy or less creepy than the same tactics being used to sell you a particular pair of shoes or sports drink, vs. a political candidate?

I don't disagree that it's creepy, btw - I'm just not sure whom to blame: the whole privacy-free technical infrastructure? Marketing/pr/advertising types for exploiting said infrastructure (which could also be called "being good at their jobs")? People in general, for leaving digital trails in the first place? The unholy alliance of money and politics that conspires to protect such creepy intrusion as long as it is good for business?

The entire subtext of that interview is Dan Aykroyd's line from Tommy Boy: "What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public."

Biden: I'm Not Running For President

I'm crushed.

Biden...because I AM THE PRESIDENT

*heavy metal riffs*

https://twitter.com/BillKristol/status/655584572554498048

lmao yesterday

https://twitter.com/BillKristol/status/656476177620692992

Bill Kristol, always wrong

he is amazing

I never paid much attention to Biden as VP. From what I could tell, there seemed to be a lot memes generated that many people enjoyed.

YES!!!!!!!

I think people like Biden knowing he's completely harmless and his creep moves only affect poor children of congressfolk he happens to inappropriately kiss.

Can Debbie Wasserman-Schultz step down from DNC too?

let's ask gabbneb

xxpost Kristol Ball

Biden kept people guessing long enough for all the good will to seep away and had Dems going on shows bashing him over the Bankruptcy bill

https://twitter.com/prisonculture/status/656870549273079813

Watch the video of how he treated Anita Hill. One TV commercial of that would have had Black women REVOLTING against Biden. Trust.

idk if biden ever intended to run but i wonder if the mess that the republican party is making of their collective campaign played a part in it. hillary is pretty obviously going to be the nominee and this sort of rallying behind one pretty strong, known candidate looks like a good move for the democrats. biden jumping in would lessen that and i think the republicans might have welcomed his presence to some extent, as someone to muddy the dem waters at least.

trump won't be the nominee (i don't think???) but dang is he making everyone else competing with him look weak by their need to even acknowledge and confront him.

lol goole, I was about to comment on how unusually sassy your posting style had become and then I looked at the tweet

the GOP hoping now that FBI report in January destroys her, and if it doesn't the NRO commentators say that it's thanks to the Muslim's stand down order to Comey.

Mike Murphy's grasp of how to talk about this stuff is honestly dazzling

Bill Kristol, even higher than we had guessed.

https://twitter.com/BillKristol/status/656886241594576896

omg

"I MEANT LIZ."

"Yeah right."

I'd say he's trolling but he's a gnome.

lol the responses

cheney left office with like the worst approval ratings of any politician ever who didn't kill or molest someone

he tried to directly kill someone, give him some credit

c'mon that was just a friendly faceshooting

Could Slate stan any harder for HRC?

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/10/21/joe_biden_s_departure_will_already_boost_hillary_s_poll_numbers.html

Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson said Wednesday he would use the U.S. Department of Education to police speech on college campuses.

During an interview, Glenn Beck asked Carson if he would shut down the Education Department as president.

"I actually have something I would use the Department of Education to do," Carson responded. "It would be to monitor our institutions of higher education for extreme political bias and deny federal funding if it exists."

Carson discussed this same idea with a Las Vegas radio host in June. Although he did not explain details, the host, Heidi Harris, said she "loves that idea."

During a town hall meeting in Des Moines, Iowa, last month, a student asked President Barack Obama last month what he thought of Carson's plan to monitor for political bias on campuses. Obama responded, "I have no idea what that means, and I suspect he doesn't either."

zing

pretty good line

also giving an interview to glenn beck should preclude you from running for political office imo

potus: defender of free speech, jailer of whistleblowers

kicker of elves

@SenTedCruz
In 1985, Doc Brown gave Libyan terrorists a fake nuclear bomb. In 2015, @POTUS gave Iran keys to the real thing.

is he...telling us to vote for doc brown?

Back to the Future pretty shitty at predicting that one

just looked out window, back to the future pretty shitty at predicting a lot

Back to the Future 2: shitty movie as well

yeah it is not good

second half (a screwball palimpsest) not bad. last two scenes all-time. otherwise sure.

honestly didn't realize nuclear bombs required keys to start up

Two, turned at the exact same time at different consoles, if movies have taught me anything.

does ted cruz believe even half of his own bullshit?

libyan terrorists? man, other than the hoverboard chase, crispin glover upside down, and the bully villain in a bathrobe, i don't remember a thing about that movie