The Politics Thread (PLAY NICELY!)

American politics shall be discussed here. Get in arguments, post news stories, do what you want as long as it's related to American Politics.

This offends me in some possible way, and I want it flagged for privacy complaints.

vote Bernie Sanders


I want America to become like Greece







Kappa

Vote Mickey Mouse.

Throw away your right to vote.

I honestly don't have a clue what is going on in politics. Reddit likes Sabders and doesnt love Carson, and Trump is still an idiot, but beyond that, I'm lost.

So the Republicans are running 15 candidates for some reason.

Jim Gilmore is the former one-term governor of Virginia. No one knows who he is and no one cares, so he doesn't matter.

George Pataki is the former three-term governor of New York. He's pro-choice, so when running for the Republican nomination, enough said.

Lindsey Graham is a South Carolina senator and notable hawk who's been in congress for 20 years and who believes in climate change. Either alone are damning in this election, both together have sealed his fate.

Bobby Jindal is the two-term governor of Louisiana, where he is currently approved less in that state than Obama, which is truly saying something.

Rick Santorum is a former Pennsylvania senator that ran in 2012 and who no one cares about anymore because they're attracted to other social conservatives.

Chris Christie is the two-term governor of New Jersey, known for hugging Obama after Hurricane Sandy and for a scandal where a bridge in a city that was against him was closed, causing a traffic jam that some thought linked to him.

Mike Huckabee was governor of Arkansas for 10 years and ran in 2008 and, like Santorum, failed after attracting social conservatives and no one else. His campaign has been a bit more successful than Santorum's because he's a bit more sane than Santorum, but he has been losing support to Ben Carson and Ted Cruz.

John Kasich is the two-term governor of Ohio. He's roughly as conservative as Bush, maybe even a bit more so, but he's made the unfortunate mistake of making himself sound like a moderate and trying to position himself as the only sane one. As a result, the GOP hates him (but democrats and independents kinda like him. Tough luck for them)

Rand Paul is a freshman senator from Kentucky, elected in 2010 off of Tea Party support. His dovish libertarian values make him different from the other candidates, but poor debate performances up until last night's have stalled his candidacy and no one expects him to win the nomination at this point.

Carly Fiorina is a liar, a flubber, and the former failed CEO of Hewlett-Packard. People have caught onto the fact that she is these things, so although she continues to have good debate performances (none as good as the September one though) her candidacy has continued to spiral downward.

Jeb! is the two term governor of Florida and perhaps the most successful candidate running; his problem is that he got there based on his last name and he got a hundred million bucks into the bank of his super pack based on that name as well. It just so happens that people don't like the last Bush and Jeb! hasn't done much to differentiate himself from his brother and his father. People are bailing on him and switching to a candidate who doesn't make a fool of himself, Marco Rubio.

In case you couldn't tell, I don't feel like the above 11 candidates have much of a chance.

Ben Carson is a brilliant neurosurgeon who has no idea what he's talking about as far as politics go. He isn't dealing well with the increased scrutiny he's receiving due to frontrunner status and sooner or later either he'll crack, or most of his base of social conservatives will and he'll fall. He is polling high though, so if he somehow avoids the two he can win Iowa and use that momentum to secure a lead in other states. Unlikely, but possible.

Donald Trump, long the frontrunner, is a businessman who speaks in bombast and unrealistic goals. Pandering to a base dissatisfied with Washington politics, Trump says whatever he wants and people eat it up. Trump has a plausible shot at the nomination of keeping with his current rhetoric and hoping that people take him seriously; he's leading in New Hampshire and as long as he avoids something stupid he has a good shot to take NH and then maintain leads elsewhere. Donald Trump may well be the most unelectable candidate in the top 8 in a general election.

Finally we have a pair of 44 year old second generation Cuban-American freshman senators who were elected on Tea Party support who may present the most plausible chance to win.

Ted Cruz is a freshman senator from Texas elected in 2012. He gained national attention in 2013 for doing a psuedo-filibuster (it didn't delay anything, just wasted time) in which he read Green Eggs and Ham. Considered extreme, Ted Cruz is pandering to the Tea Party, Social Conservatives, and, somehow, Libertarians in an attempt to dominate all 3 lanes. He has been establishing infrastructure and positioning himself to receive the backers of both Donald Trump and Ben Carson, but outlast them if they haven't faded by the time of the primaries. His biggest weakness is that a large portion of the Republican party think he's insane (and far more outside of it).

Marco Rubio is the freshman senator from Florida, elected in 2010. Charismatic, Marco Rubio is, ironically, positioning himself similarly to how Obama did in 2008 as the young leader ready to take America in a new direction vs the older generation's failed policies. His biggest weaknesses may be his flip-flop on immigration and his socially conservative views on abortion (No abortions even in cases of rape or incest) that are out of step with the electorate in a general (but are now the norm for the GOP). He's attempted to remain low-key and is conserving funds until later in the race so that he can make a bigger splash.



On the Democrats' side, we have Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Martin O'Malley.

Hillary Clinton is someone you've heard of. She's been basing her campaign off of the fact that she's a woman, that she's got the best chance in the general, and that she is the most pragmatic. She's been criticized for flip-flopping and hawkish views, but it is unclear if either are going to hurt her particularly much.

Bernie Sanders is a 72 year old two term independent senator from Vermont who's been in congress for 25 years. He's been unique in embracing the "Socialist" label and has created the largest grassroots campaign in history. He faces an uphill battle to convince people that he's electable and that he's better for people than Hillary. His campaign is growing and intensifying, and it's very much up in the air. He's running a campaign that depends on winning both early primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire and using that to propel himself through the southern states, where Clinton is beating him by a wide margin.

Martin O'Malley is the former mayor of Baltimore and former two-term governor of Maryland. The former credential has done him no favors because of events earlier this year, and although he is a powerful orator, he has been unable to compete with the unique style of Bernie Sanders or the name recognition of Hillary Clinton. As such, he is all but an afterthought, although he may be able to use the fact that the race is now only 3 candidates big to position himself more strongly in Saturday's debate and afterwards.

The race currently seems to favor the Democrats, with them having both an inherent electoral advantage and an advantage in the popular vote generally in polls about matchups of Clinton vs (Republican) or Sanders vs (Republican). There's a lot that could happen in a year though and polls have historically been poor predictors of who would win in a general election and by what margins.

There was a debate yesterday with the Republicans and there will be another on Saturday with the Democrats.

Lol, before America can become like Greece, America must first be hijacked by black lives matter. hahaha.... Bernie Sanders is a joke.

No, he is not. Those idiots who interrupted his rally are. They put him in a no win situation. Get rid of those fools and be thought racist or let them have the microphone and be thought weak. He chose the latter, but he shouldn't have had to make a choice at all.

American politics.... I try to follow it but its too soon right now.

For a moment, I really liked Lawrence Lessig because of his past history. His main objective was campaign finance reform and really made a convincing argument on how money shouldn't be mixed with politics. He was one of the few candidates that had a great website filled with all his policy stances and his goals when in office.

Unfortunately he made some interesting comments on how he would resign from the presidency once his campaign finance reform passed. While this single goal couldve taken two terms to complete, People didn't really like that and thought he wasn't a legitimate candidate. He changed his mind later but it really damaged his reputation.

He tried getting into debates but the DNC changed the rules on the requirements to be in a debate. To summarize, you need 1% from three national polls. The DNC added a condition that you would need to have these polls 6 weeks before the debate. Lessig had them after this mark.

He gave up after this because there was no point in running if stuff like this is going on. While im upset i can understand his reasoning. Not only is it next to impossible to get into a national poll, but to get into 3 is extremely difficult for a candidate that isn't popular. For the DNC to impose this special condition is crazy too. Seriously, the Democratic debates consist of Hillary and Bernie compared to the 8 in the Republican debates. While the Republican debates are a little wild, its nice to see that there are options. The DNC did the opposite. The DNC had an extra podium for Joe Biden in the debates......... something isn't right with the party....


On a side note, D.C. was established where it is today, compared to NYC or Philadelphia, because the founders wanted to separate money and government. Geography was enough to fix this issue. This isn't the case anymore.


So yeah.... American Politics...... Might as well vote for vermin supreme....

well thank you

Can I just say that Hillary Clinton as president is the scariest image I've imagined this year?

I mean, yes, trump can say some extreme stuff, but Clinton has said similarly "radical" things on the opposite side of the aisle. She just doesn't talk about it during an election season. Or when in front of a camera.

I'd rather have the devil you know tbh. Trump so far has stuck to his word and he's a decent business guy.

A weak man who chooses to let political correctness influence his actions because of fear of the repercussions isn't exactly a man to support. The man lacks competence. I'll just leave it at that (as my "personal opinion") most discussions regarding politics usually never go anywhere so I won't push the matter on my end any further than this.

He may be a bit naive but he's pretty stinking smart for riding the wave of discontent among the public. It's the same tactic used by the Russian revolutionaries that led to the rise of the USSR. It's a great way to make a power grab but not a great way to gain long term traction politically.

Clinton has been in politics for ages. She is the devil we know. Trump is unpredictable, impulsive, and he flat out admitted to bribing politicians to support his interests in the past.

I've said for years that I would rather have a competent businessman in charge of the USA over a career politician. Trump is making me eat my words.

But why? Because he disagrees with you so radically?

I mean, I'm definitely conservative and I don't want a socialist like Bernie in the white house, but I'd rather have him than a lying sleazebag like Clinton.

His entire campaign is built on bashing other politicians and the idea that his greatness will solve everything for him.

His immigration plan is borderline retarded. His fiscal policies are "I'll look at it when I'm president". And I don't want an irrational, impulsive person in charge of the most powerful military in the world.

Clinton is essentially a run of the mill politician. Nothing to really be scared of. Predicable, and so invested in PR that they have to make an active effort to actually improve enough just to keep up appearances.

I'm no Trump fan, but I will say this, he does seem to be pushing a non-interventionist foreign policy, something that I agree with.

His immigration plan (hell, any of his "plans" so far) isn't really a plan - it's him repeating the hyperbole that the rednecks have been saying for years. And some of it is fine - it's just at face value, it looks insane lol. Point is, he's doing the smart thing that Bernie is doing by playing to people's fears and dreams. He's just being a lot more brash about it.

That's not to say I would support him, but I'm still waiting for him to step up with his actual ideas instead of this *everyone else is ******* stupid just elect me, the Big Shot with The Right Stuff.* Unlike Clinton, he's being honest in his own way by telling people exactly what he thinks. It seems to be paying off

Clinton isn't a run of the mill politician. John Boehner is a run of the mill politician - he scoots around the edges, makes a deal when it makes sense politically, and hedges his bets. Clinton does what the hell she wants and then lies about it so she can stay in power. It's sickening. Also exactly like her husband

http://img-9gag-fun.9cache.com/photo/aPG21PR_460sv.mp4

is this legit?

The most interesting thing about this thread is the amount of people who think politicians shouldn't cater to activist movements.

Kinda hilarious, even. That's the job of a politician (in theory). Only, the entire voting populace is meant to be the movement.

I'd wager it's more because the posters don't agree with those movements but don't have the desire to debate such views.

From the point of view of the rest of the world Sanders is the only person not batshit insane.