[US Election 2016] Republican Primary Megathread

[Castille de Italia]

Which is why I made my edit.

And why I made mine. You edited just as I hit "quote", and I didn't check to see if it had changed within those few seconds.

No problem.

[Nordengrund]

Out of all the candidates, which is the most economically centrist.

[Yumyumsuppertime]

Out of all the candidates, which is the most economically centrist.

The center is subjective.

[Prussia-Steinbach]

I'd be okay with any Republican candidate as long as I don't have to lose my sanity for another 4 years under a Democratic president.

You have an issue with things Obama has done, do you? Like what?

Getting millions more people medically insured? Being one of two presidents in the past fifty years to lower the deficit? Being the first American president to profess support for marriage equality, which most civilized nations have already established? Freezing all White House salaries on his first full day in office? Perhaps you have an issue with him ordering an audit of government contracts to combat waste and abuse, within his first week in office no less? Or banning gifts from lobbyists to anyone in the executive branch? Expanded funding for the Violence Against Women Act, did that just piss you off? His closures of numerous secret detention facilities (and attempted closure of Gitmo)? How he didn't allow Israel to start a full-scale war with Iran? How he ended the Iraq War? How he killed Osama, the man Americans had been bloodthirsty for for a decade? Maybe his repeated beefing-up of border security irks you, hmm? Or is it how he had combat troops provided with better body armor? Or how he created an initiative that provided special funding to the Labor Department in order to train returning veterans for jobs? Was it his executive order improving access to mental health care for veterans, military personnel, and their families? Or how he oversaw America as the largest provider of wind power three years in a row? His signing of a bill that provided $4.3 billion in additional assistance to 9/11 first responders? No, I bet it was how he got the tax rate for average working-class families to the lowest point it's been at since 1950.

Well, which is it?

[Prussia-Steinbach]

Out of all the candidates, which is the most economically centrist.

There are no economically centrist Republicans.

[Prussia-Steinbach]

Who is the victim? Trump? In the NBA I think they call this a flop.

He implied all Republicans are, to quote Prussia-Steinbach, " big jokers/assclowns/nutcases/[insert appropriate label here]"

Didn't look like that to me. And according to his clarification, that isn't what he meant.

[Oil exporting People]

Out of all the candidates, which is the most economically centrist.

Probably the most objective way to decide that for yourself is to use this. They include actual quotes as well as a summary of voting history.

[Collatis]

Out of all the candidates, which is the most economically centrist.

While certainly no Republican listed as an option is remotely close to the centre, the closest I guess would be Chris Christie, followed by Jeb Bush and Mike Huckabee. If you include candidates not listed in the vote, I guess it might be Pataki, but he has no chance.

[Kargintina]

I'd be okay with any Republican candidate as long as I don't have to lose my sanity for another 4 years under a Democratic president.

You have an issue with things Obama has done, do you? Like what?

Getting millions more people medically insured? Being one of two presidents in the past fifty years to lower the deficit? Being the first American president to profess support for marriage equality, which most civilized nations have already established? Freezing all White House salaries on his first full day in office? Perhaps you have an issue with him ordering an audit of government contracts to combat waste and abuse, within his first week in office no less? Or banning gifts from lobbyists to anyone in the executive branch? Expanded funding for the Violence Against Women Act, did that just piss you off? His closures of numerous secret detention facilities (and attempted closure of Gitmo)? How he didn't allow Israel to start a full-scale war with Iran? How he ended the Iraq War? How he killed Osama, the man Americans had been bloodthirsty for for a decade? Maybe his repeated beefing-up of border security irks you, hmm? Or is it how he had combat troops provided with better body armor? Or how he created an initiative that provided special funding to the Labor Department in order to train returning veterans for jobs? Was it his executive order improving access to mental health care for veterans, military personnel, and their families? Or how he oversaw America as the largest provider of wind power three years in a row? His signing of a bill that provided $4.3 billion in additional assistance to 9/11 first responders? No, I bet it was how he got the tax rate for average working-class families to the lowest point it's been at since 1950.

Well, which is it?

I can show you three things I don't agree with at all.
#1: His open calls for gun control and his support for assault weapon bans.
#2: His bypassing of congress with his immigration laws.
#3: Oh, and of course, Obamacare.

[PhD in Victimology]

He implied all Republicans are, to quote Prussia-Steinbach, " big jokers/assclowns/nutcases/[insert appropriate label here]"

Didn't look like that to me. And according to his clarification, that isn't what he meant.

I have a motto about these sorts of things.

[Prussia-Steinbach]

I can show you three things I don't agree with at all.

Okay, *sighs* Let's see what we have here, since you obviously aren't going to address a single one of my points.

#1: His open calls for gun control and his support for assault weapon bans.

I don't see any real insanity in his expressed policy. He believes people have the right to bear arms, including handguns. Maybe you think his backing of a ban on specifically military-style semi-automatic assault rifles was too far, but it isn't as if it went anywhere. So, not sure what you're bitching about, because not even supporting basics - like background checks - is just ridiculous.

#2: His bypassing of congress with his immigration laws.

Do you dislike the law or just the fact it was an executive order? Because the first president to issue any sort of executive order was also the first Republican president, and according to major figures in Congress and at least one former president, also noting the lack of any intervention by SCOTUS, the man was on firm legal ground. As for the actual law, well, what's wrong with making the process more fair and saving millions of taxpayer dollars that would essentially just be wasted?

#3: Oh, and of course, Obamacare.

Ooh, boy, do I wanna hear this. Pray tell, what exactly is bad about the Affordable Care Act?

Let's see: Do you oppose how it reduced rates of hospital admission and preventable patient deaths, gained health insurance for sixteen million Americans who didn't have it before, and actually reduced government healthcare spending? Or are you worried that it will work like the system it was based on did, and largely stabilize both mental health and economic security, cause people to have less severe health problems, and avoid so much premature death? Are you actually angry that because of this law, there are parents who can finally afford to take their kids to the doctor who couldn't before; that there are families who no longer risk losing their home or savings just because someone gets sick; that now there are young people free to pursue their dreams and start their own business without worrying about losing access to healthcare; that there are Americans who, without this law, would not be alive today; that for Americans who already had insurance before this law was passed, the Affordable Care Act has meant new savings and new protections; that now, tens of millions of Americans with pre-existing conditions are no longer at risk of being denied coverage; that women no longer have to worry about being charged more just for being women; that more than 9 million seniors and people with disabilities have saved an average of $1,600 per person on their prescription medicine, over $15 billion in all since the Affordable Care Act became law; that more than 70 million Americans have gained access to preventive care, including contraceptive services, with no additional out-of-pocket costs; and that the law has helped improve the quality of health care, and it's why we saw 50,000 fewer preventable patient deaths in hospitals over the last three years of data?

[Nordengrund]

Out of all the candidates, which is the most economically centrist.

There are no economically centrist Republicans.

I'm sure there are, just none running for the presidential nomination. Besides, both parties are quite diverse.

[Prussia-Steinbach]

I'm sure there are, just none running for the presidential nomination.

Well, you're probably technically correct. I'm sure some exist, somewhere. They just shouldn't be Republicans.

Besides, both parties are quite diverse.

I'm going to let you respond and assure me this wasn't a serious statement.

[Nordengrund]

I'm sure there are, just none running for the presidential nomination.

Well, you're probably technically correct. I'm sure some exist, somewhere. They just shouldn't be Republicans.

Besides, both parties are quite diverse.

I'm going to let you respond and assure me this wasn't a serious statement.

In the G.O.P., you have social conservatives, libertarians, centrists, RINOs, neocons, paleocons, etc.

In the Democratic Party, you have all sorts of liberals, progressives, centrists, Southern Democrats, Blue Dogs, etc.

[Oil exporting People]

[
In the G.O.P., you have social conservatives, libertarians, centrists, RINOs, neocons, paleocons, etc.

In the Democratic Party, you have all sorts of liberals, progressives, centrists, Southern Democrats, Blue Dogs, etc.

The GOP is also quite racially diverse, or at least the Tea Party faction is, as Gallup has noted.

[Prussia-Steinbach]

In the G.O.P., you have social conservatives, libertarians, centrists, RINOs, neocons, paleocons, etc.

The GOP's average social conservatives are extremists compared to most of the West, and can largely be lumped in with neocons and paleocons as hardline reactionaries, all under the umbrella of conservatism/ultraconservatism. Republican "libertarian" politicians are nigh-nonexistent, and their only different from the establishment is they think maybe weed could be decriminalized and we should eventually pull out of the Middle East. "RINOs" and "centrists" are just your average Republican congressman or voter and are firmly planted in the right wing. So, you essentially have right-wingers and far right-wingers, or conservatives and hardcore reactionaries. Not diverse in the slightest.

In the Democratic Party, you have all sorts of liberals, progressives, centrists, Southern Democrats, Blue Dogs, etc.

Blue Dogs have been dying for a while and will be gone soon; they currently have 15 seats in Congress. They are the "centrists" (Read: Republicans who don't want to completely gut welfare) of the Democratic Party, whether or not one calls themselves a Blue Dog or is a member of the caucus. The rest are liberals/progressives, and most people who will call themselves one of those two things can agree on most American political issues, as both parties continue to move in opposite polarizing directions. So, you essentially have a few closeted Republicans and the rest (Like, 90%) are liberal progressives.

You'll never catch an American congressman saying the word socialism or suggesting something that Scandinavia has successfully implemented. There's no significant leftist, or even center-leftist influence in our legislature; Bernie's one of two independents in the entirety of Congress, and he's a social democrat, but that's literally the single exception to the rule. Congress is 80% white, 80% male, and 92% Christian; compare that to national demographics of the population being 63% white, 49% male. White men are 31% of the population and hold 65% of all government offices. Our lack of diversity in all sectors when compared to our actual composition is shameful. Other countries' average, middle of the road centrists? They're Bernie Sanders.

[Geilinor]

Other countries' average, middle of the road centrists? They're Bernie Sanders.

No. Other countries' middle of the road centrists are nothing like Bernie Sanders. They're much more like Obama or Clinton.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Trudeau
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Clegg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Blair
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Hawke
https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Wim_Kok
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matteo_Renzi

[MERIZoC]

Jindal is in.
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/bobby-jindal-im-running-president-n381041

[MERIZoC]

[
In the G.O.P., you have social conservatives, libertarians, centrists, RINOs, neocons, paleocons, etc.

In the Democratic Party, you have all sorts of liberals, progressives, centrists, Southern Democrats, Blue Dogs, etc.

The GOP is also quite racially diverse, or at least the Tea Party faction is, as Gallup has noted.

That's not what the source says.

[Fremont Forest]

Out of all the candidates, which is the most economically centrist.

This is effectively like asking which Pope was the least Catholic.

[Kelinfort]

[
In the G.O.P., you have social conservatives, libertarians, centrists, RINOs, neocons, paleocons, etc.

In the Democratic Party, you have all sorts of liberals, progressives, centrists, Southern Democrats, Blue Dogs, etc.

The GOP is also quite racially diverse, or at least the Tea Party faction is, as Gallup has noted.

Did you read the source?

[Patridam]

I wonder if Sanders plans to embargo the entire world.

[Prussia-Steinbach]

I wonder if Sanders plans to embargo the entire world.

Free trade =/= fair trade.

[Oil exporting People]

That's not what the source says.

Did you read the source?

Evidently neither of you did read it. Some choice bits:

Tea Partiers Are Fairly Mainstream in Their Demographics

In several other respects, however -- their age, educational background, employment status, and race -- Tea Partiers are quite representative of the public at large.

Skew right politically, but have typical profile by age, education, and employment

[Prussia-Steinbach]

That's not what the source says.

Did you read the source?

Evidently neither of you did read it. Some choice bits:

Tea Partiers Are Fairly Mainstream in Their Demographics

In several other respects, however -- their age, educational background, employment status, and race -- Tea Partiers are quite representative of the public at large.

Skew right politically, but have typical profile by age, education, and employment

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_Party ... mographics

"Several polls have been conducted on the demographics of the movement. Though the various polls sometimes turn up slightly different results, they tend to show that Tea Party supporters tend more likely than Americans overall to be white, male, married, older than 45, regularly attending religious services, conservative, and to be more wealthy and have more education."