You win this round Scuzz, but I’ll be back!
When I was at UVA a number of my friends were assigned mock consulting gigs - a real corporation would step in and put them through actual consulting scenarios. Some of these scenarios were more interesting than others, MLB for example was always trying to find ways to appeal to younger audiences. And that was something you could have fun with - you could get creative. JC Penny on the other hand, that was probably the least palatable gig. The assignment demanded that you come up with a solution to their declining market share, to their declining foot traffic. And there had to be a solution, you couldn’t just say “your business is dying and you should probably sell the company off.”
Working for the Bush campaign must be something similar. You can’t tell Jeb that his campaign is doomed - and that they’re throwing good money after bad. You have to pretend that there’s a chance, even if reason says otherwise.
I imagine meetings in run-down campaign offices, with stale donuts and lukewarm pots of coffee, and lots of pained grimaces. People looking at charts and printed out news articles trying to justify why they’re still in the race. “So… These next numbers… We’re tracking 14.6% down in Stubville, but we were projected to be 16% down over the weekend, which means this is actually good news. We’re beating the prediction by 2.4%. How do we capitalize on this momentum?” Blank stares. Uncomfortable shifting in folding chairs as ideas struggle to surface. Loud sips out of paper cups.
Miramon
3205
Ha, that may be how it works in the volunteer groups and in the main meeting run by the campaign director where they all have to pretend they care about the candidate. But in the private consultant group meetings they just can’t stop giggling because they are getting paid regardless. And since they know the campaign’s burn rate, they have already secretly arranged their next deal with one of the more viable organizations so they won’t even have a week off after Jeb finally does run out of money.
Trump has a plan for Muslim immigration.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump called Monday for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.”
The proposed ban would stand “until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on,” his campaign said in a statement.
The statement added that Trump’s proposal comes in response to the level of hatred among “large segments of the Muslim population” toward Americans.
“Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life,” Trump said in the statement.
Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said Trump’s proposed ban would apply to “everybody,” including Muslims seeking immigration visas as well as tourists seeking to enter the country.
He did not respond to questions about whether it would also include Muslims who are U.S. citizens and travel outside of the country, or how a determination of someone’s religion might be made by customs and border officials.
In response to a request for additional detail, Trump said via a campaign spokeswoman: “Because I am so politically correct, I would never be the one to say. You figure it out!”
Email image here: https://twitter.com/KatyTurNBC/status/673974715388665857
ShivaX
3207
So it’s a plan like all of Trump’s plans: someone else will figure it out while I do something stupid.
It’s pretty mind-blowing that a major party presidential candidate can say something like this (banning Muslims from entering the country) and still remain a major candidate. Well, for now, we’ll have to see down the road I guess. First there’s the implied linkage between ethnicity/nationality and religion; the way Trump and his ilk see Muslims is through a “they are swarthy, have beards, and speak Arabic” veil. Never mind the numerous white Anglo types who have converted, the Balkan Muslims indistinguishable from, say, Hungarians or Austrians, all the urban American Muslims of all hues and tones, etc. Then there’s the breathtaking trashing of the entire principle of religious tolerance that goes back to Locke if not before, a trashing that exceeds even the Exclusion Acts of the anti-Chinese era because it isn’t even based on a clearly identifiable racial trait, as odious as that was. And finally, it’s gross because it is so clearly pandering to a lowest common denominator, and pandering to fear. It goes beyond the “heh heh, look a the silly man with the silly hair,” straight into “this guy is bad news” territory.
JD
3209
Well, he also got away with babbling something about Mexican rapists, so he figured he could go all in.
Seems like Republicans have lost complete control of this race and their party.
-Todd
In the flavor-of-the-month watch, Ted Cruz has overtaken Trump in Iowa, his ascendancy springing out of Carson’s decline.
A different poll showed Cruz the the best favorable/unfavorable rating of any GOP candidate … and those familiar with Cruz may doubt that that’s because of his winning ways. Presumably it’s because people don’t know very much about him.
Didn’t one of the other major front runners (cruz or carson) say the same thing before him?
Timex
3213
Trump is the most despicable person I’ve seen in a long time.
Openly advocates torture, murder of innocent non-combatants, and now banning all Muslims from US?
At this point, Trump is just trolling us. He’s doing a better job smashing into the Republican middle than the Democrats ever could.
Nesrie
3215
Is there some sort of religious test at the border I missed out on? I remember coming into the country, and they asked me about fruit, plants and seeds… and even then they didn’t look. How would you even prove someone has a religion? It’s not written down on any document. It’s a voluntary piece of information from almost any organization that asks it… based only on what you say at the time, and do they honestly believe ISIS wouldn’t enter the country pretending to be Christians if it meant they could get in?
ShivaX
3216
Presumably they’d wipe their ass with the Koran and look for a reaction.
Timex
3217
It’s the same way you could deport 11 million people. YOU CAN’T.
It’s a totally nonsensical proposal which cannot possibly work. It just happens to be an unworkable plan for something that, even if you could do it, would be horrific.
It’s like he’s saying, “we should murder babies with magic spells!”
It’s like, “magic isn’t a real thing, dude… But wtf, why do you want to murder babies?!”
Possibly; I haven’t followed this shit show that closely, though perhaps I should, all things considered.
LMN8R
3219
His campaign has since confirmed that the Muslim ban would apply to US Citizens who left and then wanted to re-enter.
So, yeah, just in case you were wondering.
ShivaX
3220
I mean why not just get out a copy of the Constitution and wipe your ass with it?
I swear for the group that supposedly loves the document, the GOP and it’s base sure don’t actually like anything about it. Maybe the 2nd Amendment and… yeah that’s it. Everything else they ignore, apparently. Oh and Freedom of Speech I Agree With And/Or Use. Though they don’t get that one either on any level.
Timex
3221
This is not the GOP though. This is the lunatic fringe.
