GOP Primary Megathread III: Third Time's A Charm

[The Liberated Territories]

Why? The two party system bars third parties and forces them to spend loads of money simply to stay on the ballot. Campaign welfare is partial restitution for this.

A party with a platform to abolish welfare accepting welfare to get elected. That's a lot like Clarence Thomas getting into college on affirmative action then trying to shut the door behind himself.

I don't see it as welfare - I see it as restitution, in the same way having the state pay back money to people it might of hurt. From a utilitarian perspective, using money to allow saving money in the future may be justified. Nobody is stupid enough to turn it down.

[Robert Bork]

Would you rather have the dog or the guy who's pulling the leash?

No.

Oh damn well I guess I'll count on Hillary Clinton to solve it then.

[Robert Bork]

That's really overstated. I don't think you get from silly Twitter posts to putting your finger on a the nuclear launch button.

And all those people who said he was going to be a flash in the pan again were dead wrong. Care to wager nuclear retaliation and replacing Best Korea as global pariah on that?

Yeah and Obama's going to declare martial law and give himself a third term any day now.

[Corrian]

Yeah and Obama's going to declare martial law and give himself a third term any day now.

This is a joke, right? The sad part is it is hard to tell at this point.

[Robert Bork]

Yeah and Obama's going to declare martial law and give himself a third term any day now.

This is a joke, right? The sad part is it is hard to tell at this point.

I'm mocking a political fringe theory with another political fringe theory.

[Robert Bork]

Trump believes that the drought in California is a conspiracy. http://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-36404323

Mr Trump told an earlier rally in Fresno that California had "no drought", despite the state seeing its driest ever four-year period.
After speaking to farmers who complained of a lack of water for crops, he said: "They don't understand, nobody understands it. There is no drought. They turn the water out into the ocean."

As somebody who attended the rally, and lives in the city, I can add some context. Basically, we have a lot of water going out from rivers into the oceans, because that's the fucking water cycle. Trump was suggesting that we divert some of that water to the farms instead of letting it go out into the Bay. But the environmentalists don't like this because it would threaten the delta smelt and some other people have claims on the water rights upstream. So I wouldn't say he's calling it a conspiracy.

[Ashmoria]

I think Gallo already confirmed Trump is his joke on humanity.

That said, I washed my hands of the whole affair ages ago. I'll be writing in Karl Franz, or potentially ol Kasich.

Vote Johnson damn it! He might get to debate with enough support, or at least get federal funding for the party.

why would anyone want that? he would only make it harder to highlight trump's faults in a debate.

[Eol Sha]

Vote Johnson damn it! He might get to debate with enough support, or at least get federal funding for the party.

why would anyone want that?

Johnson wants votes?

[Ashmoria]

Yeah and Obama's going to declare martial law and give himself a third term any day now.

This is a joke, right? The sad part is it is hard to tell at this point.

itll big soon enough. I haven't been paying attention that long but it was a solid theory in bill Clinton's last year in office AND George bush's last year in office. I see no reason why it wont be popular this time around too.

[Unified Governments]

You know, I can tell if I want Bernie to drop out yet. On the one hand he has no chance and his supporters are annoying. On the other hand the longer he stays in the more chinks he puts in Hillary's armor. And he's single-handedly tearing the party apart. He has enough balls to endorse DWS's opponent. Glorious to witness.

And people thought the GOP was divided? Reince Preibus practically has no opposition.

[Northern Davincia]

You know, I can tell if I want Bernie to drop out yet. On the one hand he has no chance and his supporters are annoying. On the other hand the longer he stays in the more chinks he puts in Hillary's armor. And he's single-handedly tearing the party apart. He has enough balls to endorse DWS's opponent. Glorious to witness.

And people thought the GOP was divided? Reince Preibus practically has no opposition.

So by this information, Bernie should stay in the race for as long as need be.

[Unified Governments]

You know, I can tell if I want Bernie to drop out yet. On the one hand he has no chance and his supporters are annoying. On the other hand the longer he stays in the more chinks he puts in Hillary's armor. And he's single-handedly tearing the party apart. He has enough balls to endorse DWS's opponent. Glorious to witness.

And people thought the GOP was divided? Reince Preibus practically has no opposition.

So by this information, Bernie should stay in the race for as long as need be.

Absolutely if he helps Trump. Go on, feel the bern baby. Bern it up. Bern it the fuck down. Steal votes from Hillary. Become the new Ralph Nader.

[Northern Davincia]

So by this information, Bernie should stay in the race for as long as need be.

Absolutely if he helps Trump. Go on, feel the bern baby. Bern it up. Bern it the fuck down. Steal votes from Hillary. Become the new Ralph Nader.

I really can't see this election going anywhere but through Congress.

[Unified Governments]

Absolutely if he helps Trump. Go on, feel the bern baby. Bern it up. Bern it the fuck down. Steal votes from Hillary. Become the new Ralph Nader.

I really can't see this election going anywhere but through Congress.

Two of the most unpopular candidates in a long time. Yeah, I can see this being Bush vs Gore all over again.

[Myrensis]

Absolutely if he helps Trump. Go on, feel the bern baby. Bern it up. Bern it the fuck down. Steal votes from Hillary. Become the new Ralph Nader.

I really can't see this election going anywhere but through Congress.

With the possible exception of the more deluded Tea Baggers, nobody on either side wants that scenario. Democrats because obviously the Republican House is going to give it t Trump. Republicans because Trump and they would have zero credibility or legitimacy of any kind in the eyes of anyone except their own diehards. Democrats would make the last 6 years look like a glowing era of bipartisan productivity with their stonewalling, and the best case for the GOP Would be going nuclear on the filibuster and getting Trump to rubber stamp as much as possible before the inevitable midterm backlash.

Gore vs. Bush would look like a minor disagreement between old friends by comparison.

[Northern Davincia]

I really can't see this election going anywhere but through Congress.

With the possible exception of the more deluded Tea Baggers, nobody on either side wants that scenario. Democrats because obviously the Republican House is going to give it t Trump. Republicans because Trump and they would have zero credibility or legitimacy of any kind in the eyes of anyone except their own diehards. Democrats would make the last 6 years look like a glowing era of bipartisan productivity with their stonewalling, and the best case for the GOP Would be going nuclear on the filibuster and getting Trump to rubber stamp as much as possible before the inevitable midterm backlash.

Gore vs. Bush would look like a minor disagreement between old friends by comparison.

That's the frightening downside to all of this. A part of me wants Congress to hand the presidency to Johnson, but that would never happen.

[The Romulan Republic]

With the possible exception of the more deluded Tea Baggers, nobody on either side wants that scenario. Democrats because obviously the Republican House is going to give it t Trump. Republicans because Trump and they would have zero credibility or legitimacy of any kind in the eyes of anyone except their own diehards. Democrats would make the last 6 years look like a glowing era of bipartisan productivity with their stonewalling, and the best case for the GOP Would be going nuclear on the filibuster and getting Trump to rubber stamp as much as possible before the inevitable midterm backlash.

Gore vs. Bush would look like a minor disagreement between old friends by comparison.

That's the frightening downside to all of this. A part of me wants Congress to hand the presidency to Johnson, but that would never happen.

No one should want Congress to give the Presidency to someone who got fewer votes, as Johnson almost certainly would. That would almost certainly destroy most of whatever little faith remains in the Democratic system and enrage the public. I'd expect mass riots, minimum.

Unless you want America to fall and have no respect for the will of the people, there is no reason to want this. I wouldn't want my candidate to win that way. Because it wouldn't be a real win.

[Unified Governments]

That's the frightening downside to all of this. A part of me wants Congress to hand the presidency to Johnson, but that would never happen.

No one should want Congress to give the Presidency to someone who got fewer votes, as Johnson almost certainly would. That would almost certainly destroy most of whatever little faith remains in the Democratic system and enrage the public. I'd expect mass riots, minimum.

Unless you want America to fall and have no respect for the will of the people, there is no reason to want this. I wouldn't want my candidate to win that way. Because it wouldn't be a real win.

So we should succumb to mobocracy? We aren't a pure democracy and never will be. And thank God for that.

[Grave_n_idle]

No.

Oh damn well I guess I'll count on Hillary Clinton to solve it then.

I think it's a real problem, but most people are actually content with the status quo. That means we're not likely to see it really addressed. You'd have to have a candidate that was actually serious about fighting the corruption AND you'd have to have an engaged voting public that actually supported that candidate.

So.... we're probably not going to see real action on it anytime soon.

In the meantime, perhaps, it IS still possible to choose the lesser of the evils - and in this election season, that's basically anyone but Trump. Even Clinton.

[Grave_n_idle]

Trump believes that the drought in California is a conspiracy. http://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-36404323

As somebody who attended the rally, and lives in the city, I can add some context. Basically, we have a lot of water going out from rivers into the oceans, because that's the fucking water cycle. Trump was suggesting that we divert some of that water to the farms instead of letting it go out into the Bay. But the environmentalists don't like this because it would threaten the delta smelt and some other people have claims on the water rights upstream. So I wouldn't say he's calling it a conspiracy.

Do you mean downstream? The riparian claims upstream are not really affected by what California does with it's water.

[Planita]

No one should want Congress to give the Presidency to someone who got fewer votes, as Johnson almost certainly would. That would almost certainly destroy most of whatever little faith remains in the Democratic system and enrage the public. I'd expect mass riots, minimum.

Unless you want America to fall and have no respect for the will of the people, there is no reason to want this. I wouldn't want my candidate to win that way. Because it wouldn't be a real win.

So we should succumb to mobocracy? We aren't a pure democracy and never will be. And thank God for that.

What do you mean by a 'pure democracy'?

[Nordengrund]

You know, I can tell if I want Bernie to drop out yet. On the one hand he has no chance and his supporters are annoying. On the other hand the longer he stays in the more chinks he puts in Hillary's armor. And he's single-handedly tearing the party apart. He has enough balls to endorse DWS's opponent. Glorious to witness.

And people thought the GOP was divided? Reince Preibus practically has no opposition.

That's the first time I heard that about the Democratic Party.

As for the latter question, I'll say yes. On the Democrats' side you just have Hillary and Bernie. On the GOP side, we used to have alot more candidates and now those who supported the other candidates are either reluctantly voting for Trump, voting for a Democrat, or someone else.

[Unified Governments]

So we should succumb to mobocracy? We aren't a pure democracy and never will be. And thank God for that.

What do you mean by a 'pure democracy'?

Mob rule. Tyranny of the majority.

[Unified Governments]

You know, I can tell if I want Bernie to drop out yet. On the one hand he has no chance and his supporters are annoying. On the other hand the longer he stays in the more chinks he puts in Hillary's armor. And he's single-handedly tearing the party apart. He has enough balls to endorse DWS's opponent. Glorious to witness.

And people thought the GOP was divided? Reince Preibus practically has no opposition.

That's the first time I heard that about the Democratic Party.

As for the latter question, I'll say yes. On the Democrats' side you just have Hillary and Bernie. On the GOP side, we used to have alot more candidates and now those who supported the other candidates are either reluctantly voting for Trump, voting for a Democrat, or someone else.

At least the GOP has their nominee. Bernie's still idiotically clinging on.

[Geilinor]

What do you mean by a 'pure democracy'?

Mob rule. Tyranny of the majority.

Representative democracy is not less "pure" than direct democracy.