The GOP Primary Thread: Beyond Thunderdome

Viskod

Hey, hey.

Remember when Jeb made a big deal about being his own man and not being the son of the Bush Sr administration or the brother of the W administration? (Even though his donors and campaign team were littered with traces of them)

Yeah neither does he.

Pi-r8

Rchanen wrote: »

joshofalltrades wrote: »

Jesus, how long will it take to sink in that letting your mommy fight your battles is easily exploitable by Trump?

Once again, the only question that can be asked is "HOW IS HE SO BAD AT THIS?"

I think he's no longer really running for president. His real plan is to pitch a remake of That's My Bush.

Fencingsax

Scooter wrote: »

Captain Carrot wrote: »

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.

This is actually a concept that's always felt so alien to me; what it must be like to actually agree with your parents on, well, any of the Big Issues. I probably wouldn't get on so well with my parents if I didn't go out of the way to avoid any talk of politics on my trips home, outside of factual news statements (like, starting and stopping with "X dropped out of the race yesterday, I heard."). I love my dad, but if he was running for president, I'd probably be the first one on the news telling people not to vote for him.

I hear a lot of stories from other people too about having to deal with more conservative relatives, does anyone here actually have families they get to go home to and agree with? What's that like?

I still live at home, but my parents agree with me on politics quite a bit. My dad's a bit more cynical than me, but he only talks about how awesome [X Conservative] is because he knows it annoys me, even if I know he's fucking with me.

It's pretty neat, actually.

Veevee

Everyone in my family are on the left side of the spectrum, some more and others less than others, but we all generally agree.

It's pretty great. Family get-togethers are almost like coming to this thread when politics gets brought up.

tbloxham

Rchanen wrote: »

joshofalltrades wrote: »

Jesus, how long will it take to sink in that letting your mommy fight your battles is easily exploitable by Trump?

Once again, the only question that can be asked is "HOW IS HE SO BAD AT THIS?"

I honestly think his mother is the only functional part of his campaign. He should just spend all his time talking about how great his mum is and how much he likes spending time with his family and hope for a miracle.

madparrot

most of my family is extremely liberal, like stuck-in-the-60's types, except for my living grandparents, who are strange hybrids. My grandmother is the sweetest person you'll ever meet, who seems to espouse most of the same liberal ideals until she casually says something racist in a Paula Deen style 'what do you mean you can't say colored?'. And my grandfather is a devout environmentalist, who is actually a founding member of a major environmental stewardship charity, and yet he can't help hitting Send when he gets the latest fwd:fwd:fwd:fwd: screed in his inbox.

edit: Sean Penn on Cruz:

Ted Cruz is a generically funny and dangerously adept thought-smith. Clearly, he watches too much television and neglected to read my article [about El Chapo] before criticizing. It's understood. He's busy trading genius and raising aspirations with Mr. Trump. Blame Canada.

Variable

is that a real quote from his mother? that's hilarious. last page.

Hi I'm Vee!

madparrot wrote: »

most of my family is extremely liberal, like stuck-in-the-60's types, except for my living grandparents, who are strange hybrids. My grandmother is the sweetest person you'll ever meet, who seems to espouse most of the same liberal ideals until she casually says something racist in a Paula Deen style 'what do you mean you can't say colored?'. And my grandfather is a devout environmentalist, who is actually a founding member of a major environmental stewardship charity, and yet he can't help hitting Send when he gets the latest fwd:fwd:fwd:fwd: screed in his inbox.

edit: Sean Penn on Cruz:

Ted Cruz is a generically funny and dangerously adept thought-smith. Clearly, he watches too much television and neglected to read my article [about El Chapo] before criticizing. It's understood. He's busy trading genius and raising aspirations with Mr. Trump. Blame Canada.

What even is that quote? It sounds like something a predictive language program would piece together.

...has anybody checked to see if Sean Penn passes the Turing Test?

Cambiata

Sean Penn is a lunatic. Every article that mentions him should always point out how he held Madonna hostage for 8 hours while they were dating.

Santa Claustrophobia

Recalling back to the concern about the media propping up Rubio and perhaps this could lead to a general victory, I should remind anybody so concerned about the brief two week period right after McCain announced Palin.



And then America really got to know her.






The point is that while anything is possible of course, right now, Rubio's numbers are generally only dealing with republicans and any head-to-head with democrats is probably answered by a bunch of people who aren't as interested in Hillary or Bernie to pay attention to them right now and are just falling in with the new hotness. General election theoreticals are about as useless right now as primary polls were six months ago. Rubio may have the best chance to 'cross the aisle' and nab the not-crazy vote, but it's still early and the skeletons are still stacked in his closet.

r4dr3z

Scooter wrote: »

Captain Carrot wrote: »

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.

This is actually a concept that's always felt so alien to me; what it must be like to actually agree with your parents on, well, any of the Big Issues. I probably wouldn't get on so well with my parents if I didn't go out of the way to avoid any talk of politics on my trips home, outside of factual news statements (like, starting and stopping with "X dropped out of the race yesterday, I heard."). I love my dad, but if he was running for president, I'd probably be the first one on the news telling people not to vote for him.

I hear a lot of stories from other people too about having to deal with more conservative relatives, does anyone here actually have families they get to go home to and agree with? What's that like?

Oh, please. The only politics an establishment politician like [George HW/H]/Jeb Bush believes in is $$$. That belief leads to you having a realistic shot at continuing your family's domination of wealth and power, so you're going to be quite placated.

Knight_

madparrot wrote: »

A semi-scientific illustration of the degree to which Ted Cruz's face is so punchable

german is the best language.

Backpfeifengesicht.

Preacher

Cambiata wrote: »

Sean Penn is a lunatic. Every article that mentions him should always point out how he held Madonna hostage for 8 hours while they were dating.

Not just held hostage beat the shit out of her. Only got away with it because she didn't press charges. He was chris brown before chris brown was chris brown.

Anyway, with Jindal signing on with team bribery err Rubio. He continues to obviously be the "please dear god not trump or cruz" pick for the party higher ups, but that can also harm him with the rank and file.

Atomika

madparrot wrote: »

A semi-scientific illustration of the degree to which Ted Cruz's face is so punchable

Also, when Ted Cruz opens his mouth, you can't see any teeth. It's disturbing.

Atomika

Why would anyone want the support of Mr. I'm Not Even Popular In My Own State?

OptimusZed

Rachel Maddow had a 6 minute conversation with Chris Christie while they were both surrounded by about 20 reporters. It didn't get contentious at all, but it was just kind of surreal to watch.

syndalis

OptimusZed wrote: »

Rachel Maddow had a 6 minute conversation with Chris Christie while they were both surrounded by about 20 reporters. It didn't get contentious at all, but it was just kind of surreal to watch.

I'm listening to it now. It was good. Christie came across pretty human and approachable with her even as I disagree with him. Only complaint was how he tried to peg her as an entertainer when she is one of a small number of people who try to use history and research to contextualize the news.

Couscous

It looks like Ted Cruz is collapsing in New Hampshire.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2016/02/05/new-poll-shows-rubio-closing-trump/QpALGuCZ2gAivxLtHAaPAI/story.html

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — Front-runner Donald Trump holds a nearly 10 percentage point lead over his rivals in New Hampshire’s Republican primary race, but Senator Marco Rubio is closing the gap in the final days, according to a new poll released Friday.

Twenty-nine percent of voters surveyed said they backed Trump, and Rubio of Florida took second place with 19 percent. That’s the highest level of support Rubio has shown in any public survey since Trump entered the race in the summer.

The Suffolk University/Boston Globe survey also showed former secretary of state Hillary Clinton in striking distance of Senator Bernie Sanders, who has a 9 percentage point lead in the Democratic primary.

A sizable majority of Democrats seem to have made up their minds, and a smaller portion of Republican voters questioned said they were certain of their choice in Tuesday’s primary. While 33 percent of Republicans in the poll said they could change their minds over the closing weekend, just 13 percent of Democrats said the same.

In the Republican race, Ohio Governor John Kasich placed third in the poll with 13 percent, former Florida governor Jeb Bush had 10 percent , US Senator Ted Cruz had 7 percent, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie fell to 5 percent, and Ben Carson had 4 percent.

Cruz won Monday’s Iowa caucuses, while Trump had a disappointing second-place finish, and Rubio finished closely in third.

“What a difference a caucus makes,” said David Paleologos, director of the Political Research Center at Suffolk University. “By exceeding expectations in Iowa, Marco Rubio is converting likability to electability, even more so than Ted Cruz, who, like many conservative Iowa winners of the past like Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum, can’t seem to convert an Iowa win into a major showing in New Hampshire.”

Trump has led every poll of the New Hampshire primary since he announced his campaign.

...

Cruz had stood at 12 percent, tied for second with Kasich and beating Rubio at 10 percent, in a late January version of the same poll. That was quick.

Rchanen

Couscous wrote: »

It looks like Ted Cruz is collapsing in New Hampshire.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2016/02/05/new-poll-shows-rubio-closing-trump/QpALGuCZ2gAivxLtHAaPAI/story.html

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — Front-runner Donald Trump holds a nearly 10 percentage point lead over his rivals in New Hampshire’s Republican primary race, but Senator Marco Rubio is closing the gap in the final days, according to a new poll released Friday.

Twenty-nine percent of voters surveyed said they backed Trump, and Rubio of Florida took second place with 19 percent. That’s the highest level of support Rubio has shown in any public survey since Trump entered the race in the summer.

The Suffolk University/Boston Globe survey also showed former secretary of state Hillary Clinton in striking distance of Senator Bernie Sanders, who has a 9 percentage point lead in the Democratic primary.

A sizable majority of Democrats seem to have made up their minds, and a smaller portion of Republican voters questioned said they were certain of their choice in Tuesday’s primary. While 33 percent of Republicans in the poll said they could change their minds over the closing weekend, just 13 percent of Democrats said the same.

In the Republican race, Ohio Governor John Kasich placed third in the poll with 13 percent, former Florida governor Jeb Bush had 10 percent , US Senator Ted Cruz had 7 percent, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie fell to 5 percent, and Ben Carson had 4 percent.

Cruz won Monday’s Iowa caucuses, while Trump had a disappointing second-place finish, and Rubio finished closely in third.

“What a difference a caucus makes,” said David Paleologos, director of the Political Research Center at Suffolk University. “By exceeding expectations in Iowa, Marco Rubio is converting likability to electability, even more so than Ted Cruz, who, like many conservative Iowa winners of the past like Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum, can’t seem to convert an Iowa win into a major showing in New Hampshire.”

Trump has led every poll of the New Hampshire primary since he announced his campaign.

...

Cruz had stood at 12 percent, tied for second with Kasich and beating Rubio at 10 percent, in a late January version of the same poll. That was quick.

Iowa and New Hampshire rarely go the same way.

OptimusZed

Kasich has been doing like a hundred town halls a day since Iowa.

mRahmani

If there is a "least bad" candidate to root for, would it be Kasich? I don't know much about the guy.

Atomika

mRahmani wrote: »

If there is a "least bad" candidate to root for, would it be Kasich? I don't know much about the guy.

No, not really. Just a least-obnoxious candidate, which Kasich kinda fits. Kasich is semi-supportive of LGBT issues, but he's no progressive.

TryCatcher

joshofalltrades wrote: »

Jesus, how long will it take to sink in that letting your mommy fight your battles is easily exploitable by Trump?

https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/695979656617578496

Well, there's your answer. Heh.

Atomika

"I'm my own man. Just ask my mom or my brother or my dad."

- John "My mom thinks I'm cool" Bush

syndalis

Atomika wrote: »

"I'm my own man. Just ask my mom or my brother or my dad."

- John "My mom thinks I'm cool" Bush

The commercial with the endorsement from W continues to join an entire parade of saddest things.

joshofalltrades

TryCatcher wrote: »

joshofalltrades wrote: »

Jesus, how long will it take to sink in that letting your mommy fight your battles is easily exploitable by Trump?

https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/695979656617578496

Well, there's your answer. Heh.

Totally called it. But that's not really me being very politically savvy, it's Jeb$&%?! being extremely politically blind.

Atomika

syndalis wrote: »

Atomika wrote: »

"I'm my own man. Just ask my mom or my brother or my dad."

- John "My mom thinks I'm cool" Bush

The commercial with the endorsement from W continues to join an entire parade of saddest things.

At this point I'm really thinking JEB is running some kind of performance art thing

He seems too amused with how shitty he's doing

Rchanen

joshofalltrades wrote: »

TryCatcher wrote: »

joshofalltrades wrote: »

Jesus, how long will it take to sink in that letting your mommy fight your battles is easily exploitable by Trump?

https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/695979656617578496

Well, there's your answer. Heh.

Totally called it. But that's not really me being very politically savvy, it's Jeb$&%?! being extremely politically blind.

How is he so bad at this??!!

Atomika

farts, wrong thread

Richy

Scooter wrote: »

Captain Carrot wrote: »

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.

This is actually a concept that's always felt so alien to me; what it must be like to actually agree with your parents on, well, any of the Big Issues. I probably wouldn't get on so well with my parents if I didn't go out of the way to avoid any talk of politics on my trips home, outside of factual news statements (like, starting and stopping with "X dropped out of the race yesterday, I heard."). I love my dad, but if he was running for president, I'd probably be the first one on the news telling people not to vote for him.

I hear a lot of stories from other people too about having to deal with more conservative relatives, does anyone here actually have families they get to go home to and agree with? What's that like?

I think my father would make an amazing finance minister. But for the love of God keep him far away from anything to do with social policy.

DevoutlyApathetic

Rchanen wrote: »

joshofalltrades wrote: »

TryCatcher wrote: »

joshofalltrades wrote: »

Jesus, how long will it take to sink in that letting your mommy fight your battles is easily exploitable by Trump?

https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/695979656617578496

Well, there's your answer. Heh.

Totally called it. But that's not really me being very politically savvy, it's Jeb$&%?! being extremely politically blind.

How is he so bad at this??!!

How does he not employ a single fucking person who can point out how horrible an idea this was. The mind boggles.

Hey Jeb!, I'll totally vet your ads for being utterly stupid for like $100k. Totally a value buy for your campaign.

Viskod

I feel the best part of that article is the news that Kasich is only coming in 3rd place in his own state.

Santa Claustrophobia

I think JEB! is just trying to be a mobile job creator.

Darkewolfe

DevoutlyApathetic wrote: »

Rchanen wrote: »

joshofalltrades wrote: »

TryCatcher wrote: »

joshofalltrades wrote: »

Jesus, how long will it take to sink in that letting your mommy fight your battles is easily exploitable by Trump?

https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/695979656617578496

Well, there's your answer. Heh.

Totally called it. But that's not really me being very politically savvy, it's Jeb$&%?! being extremely politically blind.

How is he so bad at this??!!

How does he not employ a single fucking person who can point out how horrible an idea this was. The mind boggles.

Hey Jeb!, I'll totally vet your ads for being utterly stupid for like $100k. Totally a value buy for your campaign.

Well, at this point he can't really make it worse. Might as well try a few crazy things. Heck, maybe this lets him pay a consulting fee to his family out of his warchest, shifting some of that money around.

Captain Carrot

Viskod wrote: »

I feel the best part of that article is the news that Kasich is only coming in 3rd place in his own state.

Nobody's given much of a shit about favorite sons since Tom Harkin got 76% in Iowa in 1992. Since then, you have to be a real candidate to get a significant boost.

Paladin

I hope in true moneyball fashion Trump wins the primary and narrowly loses the election, because it would prove that republicans don't need huge dollar campaigns and huge dollar backers to compete. Then the Democrats can disarm too

Variable

mRahmani wrote: »

If there is a "least bad" candidate to root for, would it be Kasich? I don't know much about the guy.

I would say yes, on that side. absolutely.

Kaputa

So one of my friends, who's working with 350, is going to rallies/town hall events for the Republican candidates and tricking them into getting pictures taken with her/other environmentalists. Some pics:

Ted Cruz

Chris Christie

shryke

Couscous wrote: »

It looks like Ted Cruz is collapsing in New Hampshire.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2016/02/05/new-poll-shows-rubio-closing-trump/QpALGuCZ2gAivxLtHAaPAI/story.html

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — Front-runner Donald Trump holds a nearly 10 percentage point lead over his rivals in New Hampshire’s Republican primary race, but Senator Marco Rubio is closing the gap in the final days, according to a new poll released Friday.

Twenty-nine percent of voters surveyed said they backed Trump, and Rubio of Florida took second place with 19 percent. That’s the highest level of support Rubio has shown in any public survey since Trump entered the race in the summer.

The Suffolk University/Boston Globe survey also showed former secretary of state Hillary Clinton in striking distance of Senator Bernie Sanders, who has a 9 percentage point lead in the Democratic primary.

A sizable majority of Democrats seem to have made up their minds, and a smaller portion of Republican voters questioned said they were certain of their choice in Tuesday’s primary. While 33 percent of Republicans in the poll said they could change their minds over the closing weekend, just 13 percent of Democrats said the same.

In the Republican race, Ohio Governor John Kasich placed third in the poll with 13 percent, former Florida governor Jeb Bush had 10 percent , US Senator Ted Cruz had 7 percent, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie fell to 5 percent, and Ben Carson had 4 percent.

Cruz won Monday’s Iowa caucuses, while Trump had a disappointing second-place finish, and Rubio finished closely in third.

“What a difference a caucus makes,” said David Paleologos, director of the Political Research Center at Suffolk University. “By exceeding expectations in Iowa, Marco Rubio is converting likability to electability, even more so than Ted Cruz, who, like many conservative Iowa winners of the past like Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum, can’t seem to convert an Iowa win into a major showing in New Hampshire.”

Trump has led every poll of the New Hampshire primary since he announced his campaign.

...

Cruz had stood at 12 percent, tied for second with Kasich and beating Rubio at 10 percent, in a late January version of the same poll. That was quick.

The media is sucking Rubio's dick over finishing 3rd and it's paying off for him and them. If he finishes 2nd in NH they'll do so again and praise him as the real winner.

He's becoming the new Trump for now.
Media Coverage->Polls Up->Media Coverage->so on

It'll depend on SC at this point. Though god knows even if he drops out they may still push the "Rubio exceeding expectations" narrative.

Variable

it's not some magical media narrative. it's exactly what was expected if he did better than the polls in iowa.

I mean, all the campaigns have stories they want to tell and the media interprets them and moves between them and etc.

we all feel iowa doesn't matter besides momentum. so if they were saying cruz won so he's feeling good we'd shit on the media. if they say rubio exceeded expectations apparently that's a blowjob. if they talk about trump it's their fault he's winning.

what exactly should they be saying?

idk. they want ratings but they aren't making up that he did better than expected. they aren't making up that because lots of folks want a nontrump noncruz option a third place finish, especially one so close to trump's second, third place matters.