The GOP Primary Thread: Beyond Thunderdome

Atomika

El Jeffe wrote:

Hey hey hey! We are ditching the one-thread-per-candidate thing and consolidating the primary threads into two flavors!

This is the Republican flavor - it tastes of gunpowder and liberty and hair product. Talk about Trump, or Carson, or Rubio, or those other guys who are hanging around the debate halls for some reason.

(Note that we will still have separate threads whenever a debate rolls around.)

Discuss!

Tube wrote:

Let's aim a little higher for our standard of discourse than "TED CRUZ IS SECRET FAG>!>!>!>!!?!?!" shall we?

Entity/Rockatansky 2016
Embrace the Apocalypse

OptimusZed

Ohthankjebusit'sback

The Illinois election board says Cruz meets the criteria of Natural Born Citizen and will be on the ballot in that state.

New conventional wisdom is that the Trump/Cruz outcome of Iowa is good for.... Rubio. Because of course it is.

Atomika

Lindsey Graham accidentally explains everything wrong with the GOP mentality:

"I'm gonna support the Republican nominee," Graham said, and if it's Trump or Cruz, "I'm gonna buy a ticket on the Titanic."

LostNinja

Can someone give me a non "lol republican" rundown of Rubio? It occurred to me that he appears to be the only one that even has a small chance of getting the nod over Cruz or Trump.

TryCatcher

Ok, this explains a lot:

Former first lady Barbara Bush is "not as great as everybody thinks she is," Jeb Bush said during a lighter moment at a campaign event in Derry accompanied by his mother, in which he joked about her proclivity to discipline.

Recounting how many times people in New Hampshire have come up to him praising his mother, Bush made sure to emphasize just who was the disciplinarian in the Bush clan when he was growing up in Texas.

"I jokingly say that when we were growing up in Midland, in Houston, that mom was fortunate not to have a child-abuse hotline available," he said, as attendees laughed, explaining that "the discipline of learning right and wrong was her doing."

Bush then got choked up in describing his father, former President George H.W. Bush, as "this perfect, idyllic man who to this day is the greatest man alive."

"But she was the one that taught us right and wrong, I can promise you that. And it’s worked out pretty good,"he said. "All the mistakes that I’ve made are my own doing, I can tell you that."

The former first lady has taken a larger role in promoting her son's candidacy on the trail in recent days, last month personally writing a letter to voters in the state asking for support and appearing in a video in which she called her son "a very good father, a wonderful son, a hard worker." The former first lady initially expressed skepticism toward a potential Bush run, remarking in 2013 that the United States has had "enough Bushes in the White House."

Yeah, joke. Right. How are you so bad at this?

Richy

TryCatcher wrote: »

Ok, this explains a lot:

Former first lady Barbara Bush is "not as great as everybody thinks she is," Jeb Bush said during a lighter moment at a campaign event in Derry accompanied by his mother, in which he joked about her proclivity to discipline.

Recounting how many times people in New Hampshire have come up to him praising his mother, Bush made sure to emphasize just who was the disciplinarian in the Bush clan when he was growing up in Texas.

"I jokingly say that when we were growing up in Midland, in Houston, that mom was fortunate not to have a child-abuse hotline available," he said, as attendees laughed, explaining that "the discipline of learning right and wrong was her doing."

Bush then got choked up in describing his father, former President George H.W. Bush, as "this perfect, idyllic man who to this day is the greatest man alive."

"But she was the one that taught us right and wrong, I can promise you that. And it’s worked out pretty good,"he said. "All the mistakes that I’ve made are my own doing, I can tell you that."

The former first lady has taken a larger role in promoting her son's candidacy on the trail in recent days, last month personally writing a letter to voters in the state asking for support and appearing in a video in which she called her son "a very good father, a wonderful son, a hard worker." The former first lady initially expressed skepticism toward a potential Bush run, remarking in 2013 that the United States has had "enough Bushes in the White House."

Yeah, joke. Right. How are you so bad at this?

What? What's not funny about child abuse?

DevoutlyApathetic

LostNinja wrote: »

Can someone give me a non "lol republican" rundown of Rubio? It occurred to me that he appears to be the only one that even has a small chance of getting the nod over Cruz or Trump.

He's a Senator who hasn't done much Senating and the stuff he has does is hated by the crazy portion of the base (immigration). He is not completely inept at campaigning like Jeb. He hides any crazy he's got much better than Cruz. He is not all the things that Trump is.

Rumors of skeletons in the closet abound for him but so far nobody has started in on that. There were worries that if he's in the spotlight they may become a thing but who knows if that will happen quick enough in the primary to stop him.

OptimusZed

LostNinja wrote: »

Can someone give me a non "lol republican" rundown of Rubio? It occurred to me that he appears to be the only one that even has a small chance of getting the nod over Cruz or Trump.

Rubio is an evangelical Christian of direct Cuban descent. He's young, relatively charismatic and is friendly with the establishment without having the baggage that a decade or so of national office can give you. He tried to spearheaded an immigration bill back when the GOP thought that was the way to go after 2012. He also holds statewide office in Florida, which makes him pretty attractive from an electoral standpoint.

They're really hoping he's going to be their Obama.

moniker

OptimusZed wrote: »

Ohthankjebusit'sback

The Illinois election board says Cruz meets the criteria of Natural Born Citizen and will be on the ballot in that state.

New conventional wisdom is that the Trump/Cruz outcome of Iowa is good for.... Rubio. Because of course it is.

Everyone knows that winning elections isn't about getting the most votes.


Wait...

Atomika

moniker wrote: »

OptimusZed wrote: »

Ohthankjebusit'sback

The Illinois election board says Cruz meets the criteria of Natural Born Citizen and will be on the ballot in that state.

New conventional wisdom is that the Trump/Cruz outcome of Iowa is good for.... Rubio. Because of course it is.

Everyone knows that winning elections isn't about getting the most votes.


Wait...

Meh, worked out okay for Bush

Trace

OptimusZed wrote: »

LostNinja wrote: »

Can someone give me a non "lol republican" rundown of Rubio? It occurred to me that he appears to be the only one that even has a small chance of getting the nod over Cruz or Trump.

Rubio is an evangelical Christian of direct Cuban descent. He's young, relatively charismatic and is friendly with the establishment without having the baggage that a decade or so of national office can give you. He tried to spearheaded an immigration bill back when the GOP thought that was the way to go after 2012. He also holds statewide office in Florida, which makes him pretty attractive from an electoral standpoint.

They're really hoping he's going to be their Obama.

hahahahahahahahaha

Viskod

Well the Iowa Caucus did help Rubio more nationally than it helped Cruz or Trump.

Trump is still in the lead, but his margin above Cruz is much smaller, Cruz is still where he's always been, but Rubios poll numbers shot up putting him pretty even with Cruz.

Ladai

Yeah Rubio has the benefit having finished third in Iowa behind Cruz and Trump, neither of whom have the support of the party. He seems to be getting a good bit of momentum out of it based on the few post-Iowa polls I've seen.

Viskod

Also in a new national poll Rubio is the only one that beats Hillary, and ties with Sanders. Cruz and Trump lose to both of them.

AngelHedgie

https://twitter.com/Morning_Joe/status/695213514839855104

joshofalltrades

Variable

"I'm not being difficult here I'm just asking for one accomplishment"

shit I didn't think it'd be THAT easy to make Rubio look plainly bad in front of everyone watching. I look forward to Hillary asking him that in a debate in a few months.

Lord Palington

OptimusZed wrote: »

LostNinja wrote: »

Can someone give me a non "lol republican" rundown of Rubio? It occurred to me that he appears to be the only one that even has a small chance of getting the nod over Cruz or Trump.

Rubio is an evangelical Christian of direct Cuban descent. He's young, relatively charismatic and is friendly with the establishment without having the baggage that a decade or so of national office can give you. He tried to spearheaded an immigration bill back when the GOP thought that was the way to go after 2012. He also holds statewide office in Florida, which makes him pretty attractive from an electoral standpoint.

They're really hoping he's going to be their Obama.

Minor correction, he converted to Catholicism a little while back. Apparently it's something he talks very passionately about, which may end up hurting him with the hardcore religious right.

Tofystedeth

Yeah, there was an article posted a few weeks back about his Catholic -> Evangelical -> Catholic experience.

AngelHedgie

Reporter tries to look into a college rumor about Ted Cruz, finds out how far the rabbit hole really goes. Seriously, you need to read this in its entirety. It's actually impressive how many people have distinct negative impressions of the man.

Edit: Here's a sample:

“And when he became Senator, I was like, ‘Oh my God, he called my mother a whore!’”

He did? According to Beardsley, the two were having an “intellectual debate” about abortion one day, when she disclosed that her mother had once ended a pregnancy. “I remember telling him [that] my mother had two children, they really couldn’t afford to have another child, they really would have struggled. And it was a very difficult, painful decision for my mother.” At that point, she said, “he became vicious and made it personal,” eventually telling her, in his loving way, “that my mother was going to hell and was a whore.”

Fencingsax

Tofystedeth wrote: »

Yeah, there was an article posted a few weeks back about his Catholic -> Evangelical -> Catholic experience.

Technically, it was Catholic > Mormon >Evangelical >Catholic

Couscous

Lord Palington wrote: »

OptimusZed wrote: »

LostNinja wrote: »

Can someone give me a non "lol republican" rundown of Rubio? It occurred to me that he appears to be the only one that even has a small chance of getting the nod over Cruz or Trump.

Rubio is an evangelical Christian of direct Cuban descent. He's young, relatively charismatic and is friendly with the establishment without having the baggage that a decade or so of national office can give you. He tried to spearheaded an immigration bill back when the GOP thought that was the way to go after 2012. He also holds statewide office in Florida, which makes him pretty attractive from an electoral standpoint.

They're really hoping he's going to be their Obama.

Minor correction, he converted to Catholicism a little while back. Apparently it's something he talks very passionately about, which may end up hurting him with the hardcore religious right.

He also attends a Southern Baptist megachurch besides the Catholic Church, but he considers himself a practicing Catholic and has been calling himself that for some years.

There was some minor stint with Mormonism as a child.

TryCatcher

So, this happened:

https://twitter.com/Redistrict/status/695286609705615360

DevoutlyApathetic

Wonder how much Trump slipped the fire marshal.

Variable

AngelHedgie wrote: »

Reporter tries to look into a college rumor about Ted Cruz, finds out how far the rabbit hole really goes. Seriously, you need to read this in its entirety. It's actually impressive how many people have distinct negative impressions of the man.

Edit: Here's a sample:

“And when he became Senator, I was like, ‘Oh my God, he called my mother a whore!’”

He did? According to Beardsley, the two were having an “intellectual debate” about abortion one day, when she disclosed that her mother had once ended a pregnancy. “I remember telling him [that] my mother had two children, they really couldn’t afford to have another child, they really would have struggled. And it was a very difficult, painful decision for my mother.” At that point, she said, “he became vicious and made it personal,” eventually telling her, in his loving way, “that my mother was going to hell and was a whore.”

he got passionate arguing in college. meh. this article does not touch that first one with all the long quotes from people we knew. this is mostly a bunch of folks who barely knew him echoing what they've read recently or heard on campus.

durandal4532

I feel like being an unflinching empathy-free jerk to people is like, the appeal of Cruz.

Well no wait being that but also doing that dominionist doll-smile. "Well gosh haha hehe well anyway you're gonna burn eternally you subhuman thing heh! We're pals because I'm giggling!"

Couscous

I am imagining a quest for Cruz's friends going like when a journalist talked to people JEB was said to be friends with and who generally denied they were friends with JEB.

Absalon

I'm a bit worried. If the media can give Rubio the nomination they can help him get close to the oval office as well.

Atomika

Ben Carson hemorrhaging money, staff; will have to fly coach from now on

joshofalltrades

He's done. Done city. He shrank under the spotlight and he won't get another chance.

OptimusZed

Absalon wrote: »

I'm a bit worried. If the media can give Rubio the nomination they can help him get close to the oval office as well.

Right now he's definately getting the McCain style media treatment. They're pushing him as a reasonable, serious conservative with real answers(tm).

The problem is, he's got so much less substance to run on. And he's not a war hero, so delving criticism its going to be much harder.

zagdrob

Couscous wrote: »

I am imagining a quest for Cruz's friends going like when a journalist talked to people JEB was said to be friends with and who generally denied they were friends with JEB.

Nah, Cruz is going to have a small handful of friends who are utterly loyal to him and he's utterly loyal to.

That's the kind of guy he is - he only has a few friends, but he's the first person they would call to help bury a body.

I just get that feeling from his personality. And those few friends spend most of their time explaining that 'no, he's really a good guy, not a total asshole. really.'

notdroid

Atomika wrote: »

Ben Carson hemorrhaging money, staff; will have to fly coach from now on

At this point, Carson should focus his remaining resource in hampering Cruz in revenge for Iowa. Anyone thinks he may endorse Trump out of spite?

Darkewolfe

Variable wrote: »

AngelHedgie wrote: »

Reporter tries to look into a college rumor about Ted Cruz, finds out how far the rabbit hole really goes. Seriously, you need to read this in its entirety. It's actually impressive how many people have distinct negative impressions of the man.

Edit: Here's a sample:

“And when he became Senator, I was like, ‘Oh my God, he called my mother a whore!’”

He did? According to Beardsley, the two were having an “intellectual debate” about abortion one day, when she disclosed that her mother had once ended a pregnancy. “I remember telling him [that] my mother had two children, they really couldn’t afford to have another child, they really would have struggled. And it was a very difficult, painful decision for my mother.” At that point, she said, “he became vicious and made it personal,” eventually telling her, in his loving way, “that my mother was going to hell and was a whore.”

he got passionate arguing in college. meh. this article does not touch that first one with all the long quotes from people we knew. this is mostly a bunch of folks who barely knew him echoing what they've read recently or heard on campus.

As much as I enjoy the stories about what a jerk he was, this is some serious yellow journalism. The only fact in the whole thing is that he made a pro-chiice advocate cry during an abortion debate, then a whole lot of unsourced suggestions that he's creepy, including a loose implication that he protested locked doors because he was embarrassed after a nude run.

I'm not defending him to any degree, there are great articles about what a shitbird he is, but this article is a near libelous mess of unsourced character attacks. Let's stick with the higher quality content that PROVES he's a terrible person.

Fencingsax

Technically, he made a pro-choice activist cry.

Absalon

If you are sure you can sink a reptilian, theocrat supply-sider by taking a really low and slimy road then I'm not going to be Principled Peter. But if all you bring against him is unfounded rumors that aren't guaranteed to have an effect then you might end up helping him instead.

Captain Carrot

TryCatcher wrote: »

Ok, this explains a lot:

Former first lady Barbara Bush is "not as great as everybody thinks she is," Jeb Bush said during a lighter moment at a campaign event in Derry accompanied by his mother, in which he joked about her proclivity to discipline.

Recounting how many times people in New Hampshire have come up to him praising his mother, Bush made sure to emphasize just who was the disciplinarian in the Bush clan when he was growing up in Texas.

"I jokingly say that when we were growing up in Midland, in Houston, that mom was fortunate not to have a child-abuse hotline available," he said, as attendees laughed, explaining that "the discipline of learning right and wrong was her doing."

Bush then got choked up in describing his father, former President George H.W. Bush, as "this perfect, idyllic man who to this day is the greatest man alive."

"But she was the one that taught us right and wrong, I can promise you that. And it’s worked out pretty good,"he said. "All the mistakes that I’ve made are my own doing, I can tell you that."

The former first lady has taken a larger role in promoting her son's candidacy on the trail in recent days, last month personally writing a letter to voters in the state asking for support and appearing in a video in which she called her son "a very good father, a wonderful son, a hard worker." The former first lady initially expressed skepticism toward a potential Bush run, remarking in 2013 that the United States has had "enough Bushes in the White House."

Yeah, joke. Right. How are you so bad at this?

The thing that weirds me out is his description of his dad. Jeb, you're a grown man. Usually we start seeing our parents as flawed beings sometime before graduation.

DevoutlyApathetic

Yea, and the use of the word debate there isn't very clear since he regularly took part in organized debates. It sounded like a dorm room discussion and involved calling the woman's mother a whore so....not really the right image painted by that choice of words.

Atomika

“The very first thing he ever said to me was ‘Hi, I’m Ted Cruz, I assume I can count on your vote for student body president,’” said David Mountain, a former classmate who also lived in Butler College. “At the end of the day, university politics is a popularity contest, and I don’t think he really understood that. Aside from his obsessive desire to be student body president, you would not have had him pegged for a career in politics.”

much poignant

so apply

wow

themightypuck

OptimusZed wrote: »

Absalon wrote: »

I'm a bit worried. If the media can give Rubio the nomination they can help him get close to the oval office as well.

Right now he's definately getting the McCain style media treatment. They're pushing him as a reasonable, serious conservative with real answers(tm).

The problem is, he's got so much less substance to run on. And he's not a war hero, so delving criticism its going to be much harder.

Who is doing this? I saw some article saying that Limbaugh was warming up but most of what I see by perusing the usual conservative sites is a lot of disagreement and complaints he is soft on immigration and lacks gravity. The lastest I saw on CNN was anything but positive.

CNN wrote:

Marco Rubio is running a presidential campaign marked by precision, caution and discipline -- so much so that the Florida senator delivers the exact same speech, jokes, quips and one-liners wherever he goes.

nexuscrawler

OptimusZed wrote: »

Absalon wrote: »

I'm a bit worried. If the media can give Rubio the nomination they can help him get close to the oval office as well.

Right now he's definately getting the McCain style media treatment. They're pushing him as a reasonable, serious conservative with real answers(tm).

The problem is, he's got so much less substance to run on. And he's not a war hero, so delving criticism its going to be much harder.

Less substance is good for him

they can make his views whatever they like