Tag: presidential candidates

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Donald Trump Donald Trump News Politics

It’s 2016: Do You Know Where Your Candidates Are?

Is there really a president in this bunch? And I’m not just talking about the Republicans either.

While none of the GOP candidates thrill me at all for various reasons, I find myself also looking critically at the Democrats and asking if this really is the best we can do. Of course, Americans generally ask this question every four years when looking for a candidate they’re passionate about, like Ronald Reagan or Barack Obama. Neither of those guys will be on the ballot this year.

Instead, we have a group of Republicans who are falling over each other to appeal to a shrinking pool of older white voters who somehow want the country to revert back to 1953, when men were men, women were supposed to be in the home and minorities were supposed to be in the back of the bus or in the fields picking our fruits and vegetables. Those days are not coming back for a very good reason. The problem is that the GOP candidates don’t see it. Donald Trump is the commander in chief of this cabal, but his greatest support will turn out to be a Potemkin village full of people who say they love their candidate but do not come out and vote in numbers enough to elect him. Which is a good thing.

The other Republican candidates are just as flawed, and getting flawedier as time goes on. Trump has set the tone on immigration and religious intolerance, and the rest of the field has gone along with him, except for Jeb Bush. But he doesn’t seem to matter these days, because the last person the party wants to see at the head of the ticket is another Bush. Not that Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Chris Christie or John Kasich are doing any better.

Most of them deny any human hand in the changing climate and support various, intrusive policies for women who just want to get honest, impartial medical advice from their doctors. They’ve also come up with foreign policies that riff on bombings and sending American soldiers overseas without considering that other countries can do this work with limited US reserves. ISIS is a deadly threat, but sustained pressure from the sane Muslim world will go a long way towards turning the tables on them. We need to support that.

What strikes me particularly about the Republican candidates is that the two with arguably the best records in their previous jobs are Governors Bush and Kasich, and they seem to be having trouble breaking through the irresponsible and dangerous rantings of those above them in the polls. Aside from those two, none of the other candidates has done anything notable, and that includes Christie, who asked the New Jersey Supreme Court to declare his one great accomplishment – public worker pension and benefit reform – as unconstitutional. And it did.

And if the spotlight ever turns on Christie because of a win in New Hampshire, his abysmal handling of the New Jersey economy will not endear him to economic conservatives. Similarly, Cruz, Rubio, Paul, Carson and Fiorina do not have a signature accomplishment to run on. And perhaps that doesn’t matter: Mitt Romney did have an accomplishment in health care, but he ran faster than Usain Bolt away from it. Go figure.

As for the Democrats, Hillary is still faced with the drip drip of government e-mails being purged from her home server and she is less than stellar on the campaign trail. Bernie Sanders has the heart and passion, but his time was 1972, not 2016. The country is not ready to turn around and elect someone with his views, and if he’s nominated (which he won’t be) the Democrats will lose.

Don’t get me wrong here; I believe that Hillary Clinton will be elected president in November and that she will do a fine job in the White House. It’s just that the campaign’s tone has focused on what makes us weak and though they try, none of the candidates is an uplifting presence who is telling us what they see as the future of this country. Perhaps that will come in the summer. But in the meantime, it’s going to be a long winter.

For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives or Twitter @rigrundfest

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Politics

GOP Presidential Crybabies Have a List of Demands for Future GOP Debates

Republican presidential candidates from left, Chris Christie, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Scott Walker, Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Mike Huckabee, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, and John Kasich take the stage for the first Republican presidential debate at the Quicken Loans Arena Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

The questions in the last Republican presidential debate were apparently to hard for the bunch of Republicans wanting to occupy the most powerful office on earth, and those “gotcha” questions? Those questions must go! They cannot be asked because the people wanting to be president are incapable of thinking on their feet.

So the group held a meeting and came up with a list of demands for future networks wanting to ask them questions.

The Republican presidential candidates have finalized a long list of demands and questions for networks hosting debates going forward, according to a copy of a letter obtain by the Washington Post.

In the letter, the candidates demanded that networks communicate with candidates directly (as opposed to the Republican National Committee) and that the networks hold a conference call with candidates about the debate format at least a month before the debate. The candidates would then be able to determine whether they wish to participate in the debate.

The campaigns demanded that the debates include 30-second opening and closing statements, and asked that the networks nix lightning rounds and submit graphics with biographical details about the candidates to the campaigns for approval. The candidates also asked that the moderators ask the same number of questions to each candidate and refrain from “gotcha” questions.

The letter obtained by the Post also includes a long list of questions the campaigns would need the networks to answer. The questions cover who the moderators are, how long the debate is, and who will qualify for the debate. They also list things that networks should not include like “candidate-to-candidate questioning,” “reaction shots of members of the audience or moderators during debates,” and “behind shots of the candidates showing their notes.”

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Domestic Policies Donald Trump Donald Trump Express Yourself News Politics

The JV Get Their Minutes

In this photo taken May 20, 2015, Democratic Presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., poses for a portrait before an interview with The Associated Press in Washington. For Democrats who had hoped to lure Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren into a presidential campaign, independent Sen. Bernie Sanders might be the next best thing. Sanders, who is opening his official presidential campaign Tuesday in Burlington, Vermont, aims to ignite a grassroots fire among left-leaning Democrats wary of Hillary Rodham Clinton. He is laying out an agenda in step with the party's progressive wing and compatible with Warren's platform _ reining in Wall Street banks, tackling college debt and creating a government-financed infrastructure jobs program. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Photo  (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Those of us who grew up in the era of summer reruns have had the most difficult time with both the new media and political environments. There just is no downtime anymore, what with 24-hour news cycles and the panicked reaction of the main television networks to phones, Netflix, YouTube and on-demand programming.

So it makes perfect sense that we will have a summer jammed to the gills with Donald Trump, Rick Santorum, Bobby Jindal, Rick Perry, Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley. Not that these candidates don’t have things to say, because they do. It’s just that come the fall, they’ll be off the headlines and back to being annoyances and debate fodder for the wealthier, more established name-brand candidates. It’s not fair and it certainly isn’t democratic, nor does it help the country when money determines your political life, but that’s the way it is, and has always been.

The stark reality is that candidates need to run actual campaigns with strategies and staff, and that takes professionals who know what they’re doing, donor lifelines, media access, and political experience under the heat and glare of the media spotlight. Right now, we’re getting the free media show that only the second tier candidates can provide. Hillary Clinton is sharpening her economic message, ahead of Monday’s speech, Jeb’s reconnecting with the bluebloodlines inherent in the Bush family, dining with Mitt at the Walker Point compound, and Scott Walker is wowing them with his approachable personality, but not with his smarts. 

I know it’s rather gauche to put Chris Christie in with the varsity because most major publications and even dyed-in-the-wool Morris County, New Jersey Republicans are writing him off (no link; just a conversation I had with said woolen GOPer), but I’m not going to get on that train just yet. It’s true that he’s got the trifecta when it comes to negatives–a scandal, no record and a lousy personality–but the man does fight and with a frontrunner named Bush, this year is going to be a bit unpredictable on the right side of the spectrum.

Which brings me back to Donald and Bernie. Trump is blowing hot air and getting media traction for it, but it’s attention for all the wrong reasons. He’s got nothing to run on and no policy except outrage. As a matter of fact, he even makes Christie’s YouTube rants look like Bill Buckley on Firing Line (I’m trying to win the Most Obscure Reference award today. DraftKings has a daily game, you know). He’ll be off the radar by the time the first GOP debate comes around and I would be surprised if he’s even in it. Of course, if he is, then his campaign will really end there because people will see him for what he is.

Bernie Sanders is the anti-Trump; he has an actual message for the country and the far left is drinking it up because Hillary won’t dare say the same things on the campaign trail. Sanders is playing to large crowds, but again, he needs to raise money and run ads. He also needs to appeal to a larger portion of the Democratic electorate. Hillary will eventually need to fold in some of Sanders’ ideas if she hopes to keep the faithful in her corner, but I just don’t see him being a force after Iowa or New Hampshire. If anything, Clinton will be expected to win those races handily, so if Sanders is close then that will be the narrative. But a loss is a loss and money doesn’t follow losses.

Still, we should enjoy the summer fun because once the campaign turns serious, there’s no turning back.

For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives or Twitter @rigrundfest

Categories
Politics Sarah Palin

The Quitter From Alaska Wants To Be President… Like “Seriously!”

While dishing out soup the other day, Sarah Palin told a reporter that she is considering a run for the White House in 2016. On Friday, the Washington Post got Palin to say again that she really wants to be president…. like “seriously!”

“You can absolutely say that I am seriously interested,” Palin said, when asked to clarify her thinking about a possible presidential bid.

Palin, the GOP’s 2008 vice-presidential nominee, said she stood by comments she made Thursday in Las Vegas to ABC News, where she first expressed enthusiasm about potentially competing for the Republican presidential nomination.

“I am. As I said yesterday, I’m really interested in the opportunity to serve at some point,” Palin said Friday, as former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, a potential 2016 rival, looked on.

The Republican clown car is gassed up. The engine is revving as the last few clowns jump on board. Sarah don’t know where the White House is, but she wants to be president. Sarah’s next stop? ‘1400′ Pennsylvania Ave or somewhere in Philadelphia.

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Politics

Oh,Those Little Republican Rascals!

Looking for your daily dose of entertainment? Well, look no further – those Little Republican Rascals are back and they’re zanier than ever!

Tune in, you’ll get all the laughs you’ll need!

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Herman Cain Republican vote

Republican Leader Leaves Party Because Of Herman Cain

The Republican party is shedding their loyal members one by one. This time its Lauro Antonio Garza, the Republican leader of Somos Republicans, a Texas Republican group that caters to conservative Hispanics.

Mr. Garza sat back and listened to the recent claims by Herman Cain, that an electric fence along the border states would be the way to keep illegals out of the country. When asked about those irresponsible statements on this week’s Meet The Press, Cain said he was joking. No one in the Republican leadership however, had any problems with Cain’s careless remarks, and this silence from the Republican leadership was the last straw for Mr. Garza.

Below is his letter.

GOP leadership: Beyond Reprehensible

How much distance has been travelled since President George W. Bush left office? To us at Somos Republicans, the answer is, ‘Way too much!’ We fear that for most of the Republican Party, the answer is, ‘Not far enough!!’

Today, we find the Republican Party has strayed from its roots and its founding principals so far that they can no longer be seen. We saw this yesterday, in the glare of broad daylight, when a leading presidential candidate, Herman Cain, not once, but twice, advocated for the murder of innocent people and that was met with cheers! Somos Republicans, America’s largest organization of conservative Hispanics, was alone in its criticism of this loud mouth hateful bigot. He says he was ‘joking.’ Nobody here is laughing! The fact the GOP allows and applauds such outrageous thoughts is beyond reprehensible.

To us, the idea of allegedly ‘Pro-Life’ people shouting for the un-Constitutional use of deadly force is unbelievable. Then, too, we shouldn’t be surprised since Republican leaders have been advocating for the nullification of the American Constitution in states like Arizona, Georgia and now Alabama. When did Republicans, once synonymous with ‘conservative,’ become so liberal as to attack their very own Bill of Rights in the 4th and 14th Amendments?!

Where is Republican leadership? Where has the guiding principal of ‘Morality’ gone?! If the Republican Party cannot or will not rebuke this hateful bigot and others like him who wear the mantle of ‘Republican’ then perhaps the time has come for a rebuke of the Party itself!

Ronald Reagan left the Democrat Party saying they had left him. Perhaps, I shall do the same because the Republican Party has become radical and unreasonable. President Reagan must be tumbling in his grave!
Lauro Antonio Garza,MPO
Somos Republicans, Texas State Director
October 16, 2011

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Barack Obama Featured Mike Huckabee Newt Gingrich Republican Sarah Palin United States

Barnum And Bailey Ain’t Got Nothin’ On The G.O.P.

 

While it’s true that just about everybody loves a clown, you sure wouldn’t want one running the country. Which leads me to the clowns over at the three ring circus better know as the Republican and Tea Parties. Never in the history of politics has there ever been such a motley crew so anxious to threw their hats in the ring to become the next president of the United States.

Now don’t get me wrong,  having a savory mixed bag of nuts running for the position wouldn’t be so bad — in fact it would add a little excitement to the sometimes mind numbing selection process — if the candidates weren’t so ridiculously unsuited for running a chicken-coop, let alone the highest office in what still is known as the most powerful country in the free world!

Now there are some who do have a fear of clowns, with their perpetual maniacal red smiles, those  crazy eyes with surprised expression, and of course, there’s that pasty white paint giving them a creepy ghostly appearance–another thing in common with Republicans! And like all clowns, the Republicans and Tea Party can’t ever be taken seriously beacuse of the constant silly things they’re always doing to get a laugh out of us:

  • Newt Gingrich flip-flopping on his views over whether the United States coulda, woulda, shoulda secured the air space over Qad­hafi’s Libya or even whether or not the US should have gotten involved at all in preventing the tyrant from slaughtering his own people protesting his regime.
  • Sarah Palin, throwing insults at the President and bad-mouthing him as he traveled overseas on a good will mission to Brazil, and her constant criticism of the First Lady’s efforts to help get American children to eat healthier.
  • Michele Bachmann, rewriting history by stating thet the “Founding Fathers” – who signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and created framework for the Constitution – did all they could to stop slavery in the New World.
  • Mike Huckabee, insisting that  President Obama is not a United States citizen and is a secret member of the Mau Mau, whose sole interest is to kill all white folks in the country–in the name of Allah, no less.
  • And the latest bozo,  Donald ‘Bring Me The Money’ Trump, who claims he will win the presidency if put up against Obama because he’ll put into effect a strategy to send aid and armies to  help countries in need across the world—for a nominal fee! The Donald apparently is also an ardent Birther, who, as a guest recently on the television show “The View” also demanded that the President show his birth certificate.

And those  still aren’t the scariest things about these clowns, because even though a fifth grader has more intelligence than all these “candidates” combined, there are still so called  “true americans” who will cast their votes for them in the 2012’s presidential election because they “share the same views”. Really? That’s scary. Could you  imagine any of them holding up against what Obama has gone through in the last almost four years of his presidency?;

  • Getting America through the war in Afghanistan–a war made impossible to avoid thanks to the previous administration.
  • Taking over, and reducing our military operations in Iraq, essentially bringing that war to an end.
  • Dealing with what many consider the biggest recession since the last depression and pulling the United States economy back from the verge total of collapse.
  • Engineering bailouts to businesses and banks  in  hopes of creating new  jobs and new loan opportunities.
  • Creating the biggest tax cut for over 95% of Americans and small businesses in over 60 years.
  • Establishing healthcare for all Americans by passing a healthcare reform bill.
  • Reforming our financial system in an attempt to stop Wall Street from gouging the American citizens
  • Reforming the Student Loans process, making it easier for American students to get and repay their student loans.
  • Aiding the efforts of Middle Eastern citizens to free themselves from the tyranny of despots , installed sometimes by the regimes of past American presidents.
  • Thousands of deaths in the wake of Haiti’s massive earthquake and delivering aid to that country.
  • The most horrendous oil spill in history by BP Oil which will affect our waters and sea life  for decades  to come.
  • The triple disaster in Japan with earthquake, tsunami and the subsequent nuclear plant breakdowns.

Which of the Republican/Tea Party hopefuls will last one month in President’s Obama’s shoes? They’ll be crying fake clown tears, like their Speaker of the House John Boehner, in no time.

President Obama is showing that he has what it takes to be the calm, rational, thoughtful, humanistic leader this country needs. The GOP has a long way to go before they learn that throwing pies,  handing out exploding cigars  and shocking folks with joy buzzers does not a world leader make. Exit stage left fools!

And the good news is that if President Obama still cares enough to shoot for a second term after putting up with all the Republican antics from his first term, there will be no contest as to who will have center ring under the Big Top. He just better make sure he has his whip and chair to keep the loonies in check.

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