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Idiocracy

I really wonder if there is any controversy that can cling to him.  Things that would kill any other candidate in any other year are just ignored.

The guy said he wouldn't necessarily defend NATO countries.  He's just insane.
 
Potvin29 said:
I really wonder if there is any controversy that can cling to him.  Things that would kill any other candidate in any other year are just ignored.

The guy said he wouldn't necessarily defend NATO countries.  He's just insane.

I have a cousin in Ohio who's started posting pro-Trump messages recently on FB and he genuinely believes that most of what Trump says is just for show but still thinks that he's the best thing for America. This is a direct quote: "he is using similar tactics as Hitler, but he is doing it for good not evil".

So, no, for people who already believe in this guy I don't think there's literally anything that would change that in the foreseeable future.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
Potvin29 said:
I really wonder if there is any controversy that can cling to him.  Things that would kill any other candidate in any other year are just ignored.

The guy said he wouldn't necessarily defend NATO countries.  He's just insane.

I have a cousin in Ohio who's started posting pro-Trump messages recently on FB and he genuinely believes that most of what Trump says is just for show but still thinks that he's the best thing for America. This is a direct quote: "he is using similar tactics as Hitler, but he is doing it for good not evil".

So, no, for people who already believe in this guy I don't think there's literally anything that would change that in the foreseeable future.

Some of the scenes of the crowd at the RNC are legitimately scary.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
I agree but that's what I mean, weren't Cruz and Rubio supposed to be those "mainstream" candidates? And they got crushed. I think that part of the reason Trump was able to do what he did was because the rest of the GOP field blew. And it sort of seemed that way from the very start. Nobody seemed to really LOVE any of the candidates on either parties.

I guess it depends on what you mean by mainstream. If you mean marginally more within the traditional mold of a candidate, sure. If you mean closer to the center than I think it speaks to the sort of distorting effect this particular primary had. Cruz is almost certainly further to the right than Trump(depending on how you want to define protectionist economic policy on a left-right spectrum) and certainly further to the right in terms of social policy. Is building a giant, expensive wall on the Mexican border really a conservative policy?

When I talk about more mainstream candidates I mean guys closer to the Romney/McCain mold who could credibly pivot towards the center. The Republicans didn't really have anyone like that running this time outside of John Kasich who did surprisingly well given his lack of national stature. If he'd been the RNC's guy from the beginning he very well might have made it a two-horse race.
 
Nik the Trik said:
When I talk about more mainstream candidates I mean guys closer to the Romney/McCain mold who could credibly pivot towards the center. The Republicans didn't really have anyone like that running this time outside of John Kasich who did surprisingly well given his lack of national stature. If he'd been the RNC's guy from the beginning he very well might have made it a two-horse race.

That would be my hope for the GOP should Trump lose big. They need to get back to having candidates that are primarily focused on legitimate and significant political issues rather than those that put a significant focus on legal issues that have minimal impact on the country as a whole.
 
bustaheims said:
That would be my hope for the GOP should Trump lose big. They need to get back to having candidates that are primarily focused on legitimate and significant political issues rather than those that put a significant focus on legal issues that have minimal impact on the country as a whole.

Well, Jon Stewart said something interesting recently on David Axelrod's podcast where he said that Trump is really the first time where the GOP's candidate has matched their rhetoric to policy. Which isn't to say it makes sense, just that it at the very least adds up. The example he used was if you're trying to scare people into thinking barbarians are at the gate "build a wall" logically follows. "Barbarians are at the gate, therefore let's cut spending and taxes" has more than a bit of cognitive dissonance baked in.

The interesting thing is whether or not we'll see a real shift in rhetoric coming from the majority of the party(and, with the coming shakeup at Fox News, their media wing). To paraphrase Bobby Jindal, if they're going to continue to be the stupid party it may not matter because that schism between Trump voters and Centrists will probably always exist.
 
This has me chuckling every time I look at it:

i-am-so-proud-of-my-amazing-black-daughters-sasha-3099927.png
 
Nik the Trik said:
I guess it depends on what you mean by mainstream. If you mean marginally more within the traditional mold of a candidate, sure. If you mean closer to the center than I think it speaks to the sort of distorting effect this particular primary had. Cruz is almost certainly further to the right than Trump(depending on how you want to define protectionist economic policy on a left-right spectrum) and certainly further to the right in terms of social policy. Is building a giant, expensive wall on the Mexican border really a conservative policy?

When I talk about more mainstream candidates I mean guys closer to the Romney/McCain mold who could credibly pivot towards the center. The Republicans didn't really have anyone like that running this time outside of John Kasich who did surprisingly well given his lack of national stature. If he'd been the RNC's guy from the beginning he very well might have made it a two-horse race.

Yeah when I said mainstream I meant just the guys who were the more established front-runners at the beginning of this thing (like Cruz and Jeb). I do agree though that they should be trying to find somebody a little more centre for the next time. They also need to do something to discourage people who clearly don't stand a chance at getting the nomination from entering the race. The pool at the start of this was way too wide.
 
CarltonTheBear said:

Colbert brought back both old friends for the RNC coverage:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GFVKMTJUos[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqOTxl3Bsbw[/youtube]

Speaking of mental/logical gymnastics:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_PBho4IuAY[/youtube]

The Republican polygamous marriage with the gun lobby, the Religious Right, and the Confederate South has found its natural conclusion in Trump.
 
Where Clinton-Kaine stand/differ on various issues ranging from gun rights to immigration to etcetera:

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/07/23/us/politics/tim-kaine-issues.html
 
Where Trump-Pence stand/differ on various issues ranging from gun rights to immigration to etcetera:

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/07/16/us/politics/mike-pence-issues.html
 
Some of those email leaks from the DNC...yeah, that's not going to help the Democrats win the election.
 
L K said:
Some of those email leaks from the DNC...yeah, that's not going to help the Democrats win the election.

It doesn't help when the media isn't really covering it the way they should and Twitter is removing hashtags.

It really does seem that the progressive left is bordering on being regressive, they've gone so far to the extreme that they've lost touch with reality.
 
WhatIfGodWasALeaf said:
L K said:
Some of those email leaks from the DNC...yeah, that's not going to help the Democrats win the election.

It doesn't help when the media isn't really covering it the way they should and Twitter is removing hashtags.

It really does seem that the progressive left is bordering on being regressive, they've gone so far to the extreme that they've lost touch with reality.

One extreme can lead to another extreme.  The left tends to intellectualize too mich, while the right tends to be reactive. 

Come November, what will the American electorate have decided?
 
Trump called "a disaster for innovation" in an open letter by America's top tech leaders and execs:

?We believe in an inclusive country that fosters opportunity, creativity and a level playing field,? the letter reads. ?Donald Trump does not.?

His vision stands against the open exchange of ideas, free movement of people, and productive engagement with the outside world that is critical to our economy ? and that provide the foundation for innovation and growth. Donald Trump proposes ?shutting down? parts of the Internet as a security strategy ? demonstrating both poor judgment and ignorance about how technology works. . . . He risks distorting markets, reducing exports, and slowing job creation."



https://techvibes.com/2016/07/14/donald-trump-disaster-innovation
 
Nik the Trik said:
The incredibly oversimplified summary is that if a candidate has a good week it's not so much that there's a real shift in their support, just that their supporters are more likely to talk to pollsters.

Pools are a pretty poor measurement of the pulse of the electorate as is. Phone polls tend to have very heavy representation from older/retired voters, whereas online polls are heavy on people who are already biased towards whatever candidate the site hosting said poll is likely to be supporting.
 
bustaheims said:
Pools are a pretty poor measurement of the pulse of the electorate as is. Phone polls tend to have very heavy representation from older/retired voters, whereas online polls are heavy on people who are already biased towards whatever candidate the site hosting said poll is likely to be supporting.

I think that the choice of Tim Kaine is a very good sign of what the Clinton campaign's internal data is showing. If they needed something exciting to really shift the needle, they'd have gone in that direction.
 

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