Willard Mitt Romney is endorsing fellowing establishmentee Rubio... Romney would pay ZERO income tax on all of his dividends, capital gains, and investment gains from a Rubio tax plan. Does Romney even matter to you GOPers here?
We need a Parliamentary system at this point. There's no way to break the glass on the two party system when one or both parties are captured by special interests and no longer responsive to the average American. There's too much money in the system to resuscitate them and keep them alive and prevent alternatives from being able to grow alongside them. The GOP still thinks that the Tea Party is part of the brand. That's why they're having trouble getting rid of Trump and Cruz and promoting their own candidates. The reality is probably that the GOP is just a shell of it's former self, with the Tea Party rolling merrily along inside it and waiting for the shell to fall away. However the money in the national party and the fact that only about half of the state parties have gone Tea Party is keeping the GOP alive while the Tea Party is prevented from emerging as it's own standard bearer. The Tea Party reps in Congress right now are only about a third of the overall GOP population but I am guessing that number will go way up this cycle and then we'll effectively have three parties in a system not meant to manage that type of interaction. Boehner getting toppled mid-term this cycle should have been an eye opener but instead the GOP establishment just assumed it was a random event or something and ran like a half dozen candidates for President anyway. The thing that has kept the GOP from becoming moribund during the evolution of the Tea Party is the fact that Obama abandoned the 50 state strategy and moved money out of the state parties in the process. The Dems have laid down in front of the GOP train wreck and hoped the train would jump the tracks before it reached them.
Here's a question for Scully and Mulder: Who is keeping Blinky Carson in the race and why....? By all accounts, Blinky should have exited when Christie did. Now? Kasich and Blinky are there for other reasons besides being viable candidates for POTUS.
Kasich is there because there's nobody else left who would draw a deluded moderate Republican voter who hadn't yet left the party. He's going to think he has a bunch of votes coming in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Minnesota, etc, maybe he even has thoughts that he might get some significant number of votes in California, Oregon and Washington state. He's probably wrong, because I think more moderates have left the party at this point than we recognize, however he's still thinking like it's 2012 and he's got the Romney vote in his back pocket in many states with Jeb out of the race. Carson is still in the race because, well I have no clue why he was ever in the race in the first place, intelligence that is not coupled with a basic understanding of how politics and world affairs works is amusing to watch on the debate stage but is never and was never Presidential material. The GOP has a tendency to put a self-made black candidate on the stage every cycle lately. The fact that those candidates are not politicians and have no clue how politics works and tend to be crazy enough to think they should be running for President anyway just makes them stand out as the least effective candidate after they've gotten enough exposure to make their lack of political acumen clear.
In the old days my friend, we used to call them "Tokens". I have no idea what the term is today for someone playing this role. Hey GOP? you're not doing black conservatives any favors ok... Just find a qualified Black candidate and stop trotting out these modern day Steppin Fetchits that aren't qualified to be POTUS.
kasich will be gone soon. he has no money left. carson has a ton of money and seems a bit delusional, so who knows how long he'll stick around. trump might have to make some sort of deal with him to get him to bow out in order to get his votes
I would think Kasich is angling for the VP slot. Carson OTOH, is simply delusional and stubborn to a fault. He has no understanding or refuses to understand how and why his message just doesn't resonate with anyone except the extreme guilt ridden white conservative wing of the GOP. Someone is telling him he's still in this race OR is being considered for the VP slot. That someone is lying their ass off too. Blinky won't even believe his lying eyes.
Br4d, I don't think it would be an endorsement of Trump so much as an "anyone but Cruz" firewall. Cruz winning the nomination would not only ensure the GOP getting crushed in a national convention ("he shut down the government!") but losing the Senate in the process as well. And as far as the general voting public goes, as much as the outsider (both Dem and Rep) sentiment has gained a foothold, I think (as with both parties), the general GOP rank and file is not as across-the-board "extremist" as some here have painting them as, and in the case of beady-eyed Ted, he projects as too 'creepy' unlikeable as a public figure and too intractable in his political philosophy. And while the Trump circus with all its 'slogan without specifics' insanity is just as unpalatable to party insiders, they recognize that the Donald's "step right up!" huckster schtick will play out with the voting public as less ominous than Cruz, while Trump's faux-pure "I don't need their money" distancing from the establisment helps with his outsider cred. But it's all moot: with party, big money, and traditional demographic suppport, Sanders isn't getting the Democratic nod and from there Trump's not beating Hillary-the-Inevitable.
The party moved too far to the right to get really qualified people, like Colin Powell to run. Condoleeza Rice would have been the logical choice but who in the GOP was going to fund her to run a real Presidential campaign? The guys who have run have been very rich and able to do some self-funding to get going.
I think the GOP's average voter is significantly more extreme than was the case in 2000. I think the GOP has hemorrhaged moderate voters (RINO's) consistently into the Independent column for two decades now and then relied on them to come back in and support the Presidential nominee in the general election. Most of those voters don't have a lot of choices at the local level due to gerrymandering by both sides, but particularly the GOP since 2010. The problem the GOP has right now is that the RINO's are as likely to vote for Hillary Clinton as they are for Donald Trump and they're no guarantee to vote for either Rubio or Cruz either. They don't have a dog in this fight at this point just a bunch of mangy mutts that they have to choose between, all of whom make them unhappy.
Tru Trump will eviscerate Hillary!ous. The part that seems to be getting missed here, is the GOP rank and file, including defections to the Indy, have been waiting for one thing all along. Someone that will fight back without the pretense of the Marquis of Queensbury rules. Hillary! Needs someone other than Trump.
Hobbes? who do you like to run against Hillary? Your biggest problem is the lack of quality candidates to be your standard bearer. Blinky? Dred Ted? Rubito? Too bad all of your candidates tacked so far to the right that they're mostly considered batshit crazy now by moderate America. Normal people just are put off by both the "establishment" candidate and the "ideologue" as well. Oh, and Trump will eventually be exposed as the fraud he is..All one has to do is take a good look as his businesses and their outcomes. Trump is the kiss of death and has been for a while now. This may well be the first "hold your nose and vote" election in a very long time.
I think Trump could beat Hildabeast. He'll sling mud all day, the kind of mud other republicans wouldn't dare to sling. And a lot of people will eat it up. This thing could be really ugly.
They're saying Trump won every delegate in SC. That's a dominant win. This guy is a freight train, stay out of his way.
The amount of mud there is truly staggering. I am currently reading the book below and it's quite a read to say the least.
Aside from people pissed off at the establishment, the Trump phenomenon is difficult to understand. He's looked like a giant ass the entire way to most people paying attention. Things that would have quickly sunk any traditional candidate have bounced off trump like nothing ever happened. I will definitely be holding my nose this year if things continue to play out as they are.
I have been saying it for a long time now. If Trump goes against Hillary, Trump will win. Hillary is a professional politician and masses in this country are tired of politicians. They are getting their revenge by voting for Trump. Since 2008, American public is going thru a transformation. Tons of people lost their jobs during Financial Collapse back in 2008, tons of people lost their homes. People are worried about their future more than they did in the past. People are tired of this shit. Middle class is punishing the system by voting for Trump.
