Presidential Race 2016

Wallapuctus · 2016-02-16T10:51:14.000Z

Stepsongrapes:

It frankly isn’t that hard to just criticize. Trump’s gig is the same as the Tea Party approach: simply attack. They put nothing out there to fill the vacuum, though.

One reason that politicians are cautious is because they know what goes around comes around. Trump has no record and seems to give a damn about actually doing anything.

I don’t think it’s all that admirable to simply shrilly complain about everything, post-facto. When “telling it how it is” simply consists of sitting back and then attacking mistakes of others isn’t being presidential. Likewise, hypocrisy isn’t all that presidential. Yes, Cruz is full of shit, but no more so than Trump. Trump simply distracts from his crap by pointing to the crap of others—and his base is too idiotic to give a damn about the hypocrisy and cognitive dissonance of the approach.

What can I say? It felt good to see him slap them around on the stage like that. Hell he slapped the entire Republican party in the face with those comments.

I of course realize Trump is a windbag with little substance. But he was right about this, and I’m happy he said it.

Regarding what goes around comes around, maybe politicians should stop lying and they wouldn’t have to worry about it coming back around.

Tin_Wisdom · 2016-02-16T12:20:46.000Z

Stepsongrapes:

I don’t think it’s all that admirable to simply shrilly complain about everything, post-facto. When “telling it how it is” simply consists of sitting back and then attacking mistakes of others isn’t being presidential. Likewise, hypocrisy isn’t all that presidential. Yes, Cruz is full of shit, but no more so than Trump. Trump simply distracts from his crap by pointing to the crap of others—and his base is too idiotic to give a damn about the hypocrisy and cognitive dissonance of the approach.

Yeah this.

Trump is unique in that he is a GOP candidate that is pointing to common Republican fantasies and holding them up to the light. As a private citizen, he is doing the GOP and the country as a whole a service by exposing some of this stuff. For instance, by wholesale declaring that he’s going to deport 11 million people, he’s put the “mainstream” GOP in the uncomfortable positions of looking at their shoelaces and saying, “Yeah, geez, about that… I don’t think we can actually do what we’ve been demanding all these years…” Likewise, Trump has shone a spotlight on the ridiculous GOP fantasy that Bush II wasn’t really at fault for the disaster in Iraq because… he kept us “safe” after 9/11.

But that’s not enough in a POTUS candidate. If Trump were simply a private citizen using his riches and celebrity to make those points, I’d be clapping along with everyone else. But he’s not. He needs to have answers as well as questions. As Stepsongrapes points out, a politician throwing turds at other politicians without explaining how they’d do anything different doesn’t make that politician great… he’s just another politician with smelly hands.

Scott123 · 2016-02-16T12:25:03.000Z

Timex:

Well, presumably you could say that you would get… Not ISIS out of it. Kind of like how we have troops in Korea to help keep the peace.

I mean, you can say that we had “no choice”, but clearly we did have a choice. We could have kept trips in the region. We choose not to.

In retrospect, that choice appears to have been a mistake.

Now, it’s being a mistake doesn’t make the Iraq war any less of a mistake. It’s not like some sort of nonsensical, " but he did it too! " matters. But at the same time, it seems like we may have compounded one error with another.

Withdrawing troops is an understandable decision, that’s arguably a mistake in retrospect. Invading a country despite allies refusing support and worldwide protests and worldwide media calling you and your entire party a bunch of deluded fools, but ignoring all of it, is a mistake on another level.

Honest question: Do you, and how do you, forgive the Republican party for Iraq?

Timex · 2016-02-16T13:36:36.000Z

Scott123:

Withdrawing troops is an understandable decision, that’s arguably a mistake in retrospect. Invading a country despite allies refusing support and worldwide protests and worldwide media calling you and your entire party a bunch of deluded fools, but ignoring all of it, is a mistake on another level.

Honest question: Do you, and how do you, forgive the Republican party for Iraq?

I don’t really “blame the Republican party” for Iraq. Blaming and entire half of our political population for something like that is kind of nonsensical, especially given that it’s not really part of the party platform to invade Iraq.

But I also tend not to really engaged in the same kind of partisan blaming and notions of team that some do.

Telefrog · 2016-02-16T13:55:48.000Z

twitter.com

Jeb Bush (JebBush)

America. https://t.co/TeduJkwQF3

9:27 PM - 16 Feb 2016 33K 29K

cKwTAuD.jpg610×632

Classy.

ShivaX · 2016-02-16T14:03:37.000Z

Well, that’s random.

charmtrap · 2016-02-16T14:07:43.000Z

Maybe it’s a cry for help. Has someone checked the governor lately to make sure he’s not sitting in his hotel room with a gun and a bottle of tequila, weeping?

Timex · 2016-02-16T14:41:11.000Z

Nobody drinks tequila and weeps. You drink tequila and DO AWESOME THINGS.

RichVR · 2016-02-16T15:03:59.000Z

One of the replies to that Twitter thread:

Dan_Theman · 2016-02-16T15:24:16.000Z

Telefrog:

https://twitter.com/JebBush/status/699706718419345408

Classy.

just trying to identify … is that an H&K or a S&W?

Chuck · 2016-02-16T15:31:23.000Z

It’s like a political dick-pick. So you’ve got a gun… I’m sure Trump has one too. And it’s probably bigger.

Pyperkub · 2016-02-16T15:42:08.000Z

Just trying to prove he’s not the eunuch his campaign is…

RichVR · 2016-02-16T15:57:39.000Z

Now out of date, but:

Which Republicans own guns?

Tim_N · 2016-02-16T16:18:52.000Z

Too much talk in this thread about guns, the thoughts of South Carolinians, and the relationship of two crazy idiots (Trump and Cruz). So, here is one of my favourite economists talking briefly about one of my favourite politicians:

Thomas Piketty on Bernie Sanders

Wallapuctus · 2016-02-16T19:51:14.000Z

Jeb! is the embodiment of douche chills.

Juan_Raigada · 2016-02-17T01:41:47.000Z

Tim N:

Too much talk in this thread about guns, the thoughts of South Carolinians, and the relationship of two crazy idiots (Trump and Cruz). So, here is one of my favourite economists talking briefly about one of my favourite politicians:

Thomas Piketty on Bernie Sanders

That’s a nice little article. I always like Picketty throwing data around :P

Oghier · 2016-02-17T07:25:27.000Z

Wallapuctus:

God help me, but I wanted to applaud Trump after this weekend

I agree. If you ignore the racism and nationalistic pandering (which neither of us will do), he really does speak truth about some key issues.

Even Samantha Bee finds some things to like about him. Below is her segment on Scalia, but she switches to discussing the GOP candidates and Trump at 4:00. The whole thing is worth watching:

Samantha Bee on Scalia and Trump

Incendiary_Lemon · 2016-02-17T08:05:17.000Z

Chuck:

It’s like a political dick-pick. So you’ve got a gun… I’m sure Trump has one too. And it’s probably bigger.

Jeb misses the point. Guns in themselves aren’t cool - its the things you can do with them. Its hunting, it’s sporting clays.

Papageno · 2016-02-17T08:11:46.000Z

Timex:

Nobody drinks tequila and weeps. You drink tequila and DO AWESOME THINGS.

I’m reminded of the famous T-shirt design about the “4 stages of tequila”

One shot: I’m rich.
Two shots: I’m good-looking
Three shots: I’m bullet-proof.
Four shots: I’m invisible.

ArmandoPenblade · 2016-02-17T08:23:55.000Z

Papageno:

I’m reminded of the famous T-shirt design about the “4 stages of tequila”

One shot: I’m rich.
Two shots: I’m good-looking
Three shots: I’m bullet-proof.
Four shots: I’m invisible.

I always preferred “One Tequila, Two Tequila, Three Tequila, Floor!” for my aggressively-hawked-on-the-nastier-streets-of-New-Orleans tequila-related t-shirts.