The 2016 Republican primary freak show is on!!!

[Charmonium]

You know, if the Repubs were able to disassociate with the fringe that now controls the party dialog they might actually have a lock on the WH given the advantage they have with money. That the Dems even have a chance is purely down to the clown car that is the Republican party.

Exactly. The problem is that the people who vote in the primaries, especially the early ones, are the radicalized base and single-issue voters. So even if the vast majority of Republicans are more center-leaning, it doesn't matter since they're not the ones who pick the candidate.

Inevitably, you get an appeal to the lowest common denominator in the primaries which ends up producing a very conservative, right-wing candidate. When you get the general election though, these people are often too far right for the more moderate party members who, I'm guessing, either don't vote or vote for the democratic candidate.

I'm including here people who say they are independent, i.e., swing voters, but who really tend to lean right.

 

[dank69]

Exactly. The problem is that the people who vote in the primaries, especially the early ones, are the radicalized base and single-issue voters. So even if the vast majority of Republicans are more center-leaning, it doesn't matter since they're not the ones who pick the candidate.

Inevitably, you get an appeal to the lowest common denominator in the primaries which ends up producing a very conservative, right-wing candidate. When you get the general election though, these people are often too far right for the more moderate party members who, I'm guessing, either don't vote or vote for the democratic candidate.

I'm including here people who say they are independent, i.e., swing voters, but who really tend to lean right.

Doesn't the Primary process tend to leave us with the most moderate candidate? Romney was always identified as having the best shot at the general throughout 2012 IIRC, and then when he got trounced we were left with people claiming that he wasn't conservative enough to motivate the true Republicans to get out and vote.

 

[Charmonium]

Doesn't the Primary process tend to leave us with the most moderate candidate? Romney was always identified as having the best shot at the general throughout 2012 IIRC, and then when he got trounced we were left with people claiming that he wasn't conservative enough to motivate the true Republicans to get out and vote.

You might be right but I thought that Romney was pretty conservative. Wasn't he anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage. Plus didn't he have very conservative economic policies like cutting taxes and social programs? I never really thought of him as being moderate, but I could be wrong.

 

[nageov3t]

You might be right but I thought that Romney was pretty conservative. Wasn't he anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage. Plus didn't he have very conservative economic policies like cutting taxes and social programs? I never really thought of him as being moderate, but I could be wrong.

he's moderate compared to, like, Rick Santorum.

 

[dank69]

You might be right but I thought that Romney was pretty conservative. Wasn't he anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage. Plus didn't he have very conservative economic policies like cutting taxes and social programs? I never really thought of him as being moderate, but I could be wrong.

He was the most moderate of the bunch, which yeah, doesn't really say much.

 

[Doc Savage Fan]

At what point are these guys just stealing and spending other people's money just for the sake of hearing themselves spew bullshit in public?

Are you advocating they should do it for free....like you do? :biggrin:

 

[PottedMeat]

are the twins next to him his enforcers or something?

 

[nageov3t]

are the twins next to him his enforcers or something?

Navy SEALS -- http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/meet...y-presidential-announcement/story?id=31530434

apparently one of them has written a book and is a long-time Perry supporter.

 

[dank69]

Navy SEALS -- http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/meet...y-presidential-announcement/story?id=31530434

apparently one of them has written a book and is a long-time Perry supporter.

Trying to secure the "Fuck Yeah!" vote.

 

[hal2kilo]

Rick Perry launches comeback White House bid
He'll formally launch his campaign for the 2016 Republican nomination at Addison Airport, outside Dallas, in an 11:30 a.m. speech.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/04/politics/rick-perry-2016-presidential-announcement/index.html

He'll get another try at getting the 3 departments in goverment he wants to get rid of right.

 

[Sheik Yerbouti]

He'll get another try at getting the 3 departments in goverment he wants to get rid of right.

Holy fuckballs gop, do you have any non-mouth breathers to take up the banner? Your parade of nominees are one long ass derp-fest.

 

[hal2kilo]

I hear you are a real Obama fan, always giving him the benefit of the doubt in the interest of bi-partisanship. Let me know if you need help sounding out any of these words.

Yea, I 'm confused. I rememer that the Majority Leader who has no chin, and, oh happened to be in the Republican party mention something about fighting any agenda that the current administration proposed.

 

[boomerang]

Holy fuckballs gop, do you have any non-mouth breathers to take up the banner? Your parade of nominees are one long ass derp-fest.

You guys are a real hoot.

Here's the Dem field:

An aging Socialist with rape fantasies.
An aging woman who won't take questions from the press and can't find her way out of scandal after scandal after scandal.
An aging guy who has determined the biggest issue facing the nation is a change to the Metric system.
A former Mayor of Baltimore and Governor of MD who, channeling his inner Putin, likes to be seen with his shirt off.

:thumbsup:

 

[Sheik Yerbouti]

You guys are a real hoot.

Here's the Dem field:

An aging Socialist with rape fantasies.
An aging woman who won't take questions from the press and can't find her way out of scandal after scandal after scandal.
An aging guy who has determined the biggest issue facing the nation is a change to the Metric system.
A former Mayor of Baltimore and Governor of MD who, channeling his inner Putin, likes to be seen with his shirt off.

:thumbsup:

So your answer is to divert it back to the Dems? Well played polly, well played indeed. 🙄

 

[michal1980]

So your answer is to divert it back to the Dems? Well played polly, well played indeed. 🙄

Whats more realistic, all 3 democrats running being nutters.

Or every republican running being a freak like you on the left claim?

hmmm


You guys live in a twisted bubble.

 

[First]

So your answer is to divert it back to the Dems? Well played polly, well played indeed. 🙄

What's funny is that he didn't really do a good job of making his point, which relative to this Republican field is a Herculean task, to be fair.

 

[Jhhnn]

You guys are a real hoot.

Here's the Dem field:

An aging Socialist with rape fantasies.
An aging woman who won't take questions from the press and can't find her way out of scandal after scandal after scandal.
An aging guy who has determined the biggest issue facing the nation is a change to the Metric system.
A former Mayor of Baltimore and Governor of MD who, channeling his inner Putin, likes to be seen with his shirt off.

:thumbsup:

Heh. Sooner or later, you'll need to deal with real issues rather than character assassination.

Scary, huh?

What does the Repub field propose, other than coddling the financial elite, demonizing the victims of their ruthlessness?

 

[michal1980]

Heh. Sooner or later, you'll need to deal with real issues rather than character assassination.

Scary, huh?

What does the Repub field propose, other than coddling the financial elite, demonizing the victims of their ruthlessness?

This whole topic is the character assassination of republicans.

 

[trenchfoot]

This whole topic is the character assassination of republicans.

Sorry, I don't see it that way. It's more like those Repub hopefuls have assassinated their characters all on their own. What's being done in this thread is for the most part confirming how all of these candidates committed political suicide even before they managed to squeeze themselves into the tightly circling presidential hopeful clown car. 😉

 

[zinfamous]

This whole topic is the character assassination of republicans.

and yet you've done nothing but help that cause, tbh.

 

[zinfamous]

Are you advocating they should do it for free....like you do? :biggrin:

not bad, not bad.

 

[Jhhnn]

This whole topic is the character assassination of republicans.

Not character. Ideology, the ideology of top down economic warfare & middle class failure, over & over again.

 

[Charmonium]

Republicans are a little like the Vatican - a couple of hundred years behind the times. While that makes a certain amount of sense for the Vatican since they don't necessarily want to go with what happens to be fashionable, it makes a lot less sense for a political party.

Republicans are overwhelmingly white (84%) and tend to be male and older (>55). And this isn't too far off from the stereotype of being mostly old white men. So for someone to get nominated, a republican candidate has to try to appeal to this demographic. Unfortunately, the number of people who fall into it declines every year, pretty much by definition.

 

[pcgeek11]

are the twins next to him his enforcers or something?

You really don't know who they are?

Really.

 

[davmat787]

I still wish Huntsman was running. Hard for him to win in the current republican primary but could win the general election and at least easily give the Dem's a run for their money.

Agreed. Also Huntsman's experience as Ambassador to China and that he speaks fluent Mandarin would be extremely useful in a time of escalating tensions between U.S. and China.

I don't think the value and importance of Huntsman's experience, knowledge, and understanding of the Chinese can be overstated.

But he hasn't been visible nationally in recent years to have a chance unfortunately.