quote:

Originally posted by rduckwor:

quote:

Originally posted by showpro:

quote:

Originally posted by Czechvar:
When have any of our elected officials ever reformed anything?

You keep asking this. Are you serious? Just off the top of my head:

- Ronald Reagan and Congress reformed the tax code.

- Bill Clinton and a Republican Congress reformed the welfare system in a major way.

- Bill Clinton and Congress reformed the way the banking industry works.

- Chris Dodd and Barney Frank re-reformed the banking industry.

- Barack Obama and a Democratic Congress reformed health care in a major way.

- Ronald Reagan reformed the immigration system by granting amnesty to illegal aliens.

- Clinton and Dem Congress reformed firearms laws with a ban on rifles after George HW Bush had done a similar reform regarding importation.

- Congress reformed the patents system in 2012.

I don't understand what you're getting at.

Just remember, REFORM is not always a good thing when in the hands of government.

I need to start hearing about Trump's plans. We have all heard how great he is ad nauseam. Time for something a bit more concrete

RMD

I agree, all of those REFORMS cited, were items that were reformed in a very bad way. We need Good reform, none of which has happened in the last decade.

If the country continues on the path that it's on, it's unsustainable. We will be a third world country in 2 decades or less.

Jim Webb: I could vote for Trump, but not Hillary

https://www.washingtonpost.com...ump-but-not-clinton/


In an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Reagan administration veteran-turned-Democratic senator from Virginia turned short-term presidential candidate Jim Webb said twice that he could not support Hillary Clinton if she won the Democratic nomination for president.

“No, I would not vote for Hillary Clinton,” Webb said.

Pressed on whether he would vote for Donald Trump, Webb said he was “not sure” but had not ruled it out.

Campaign 2016 Email Updates

Get the best analysis of the presidential race.

“It’s nothing personal about Hillary Clinton, but the reason Donald Trump is getting so much support right now is not because of the, you know, ‘racists,’ etc. and etc.,” Webb said. “It’s because a certain group of people are seeing him as the only one who has the courage to say, ‘We’ve got to clean out the stables of the American governmental system right now.’ If you're voting for Donald Trump, you might be getting something very good or very bad. If you’re voting for Hillary Clinton, you’re going to get the same thing. Do you want the same thing?”

Webb, who briefly ran for the Democratic nomination before dropping out and recently ruled out an independent bid for president, had just watched Trump win landslide votes in the part of the country Webb knows best.

[Jim Webb will not run for president as an independent]

In Virginia, the mogul won by 2.8 percent of the vote, but dominated the counties of Appalachia, peaking at 69.7 percent in Buchanan County. That was the sort of place that Webb had seen break from the Democrats during the Obama years. In 2006, during his successful Senate bid, Webb won the county by 12 points. Six years later, when now-Sen. Timothy M. Kaine (D-Va.) ran to replace Webb, he lost Buchanan by 28.6 points — and President Obama lost it by 34.7 points.

Trump is finding a large number of supporters in “coal country” without paying much attention to the Obama administration’s energy policies or to the plight of miners. In his refusal to rule out a Trump vote, Webb was acknowledging the mogul’s surprising appeal to white voters who feel left out of American culture — something that may help him win delegates this weekend in Kentucky and next week in Mississippi.

Interesting.

So is Webb one of those Reagan Democrats I've been hearing about?

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:

quote:

Originally posted by Czechvar:
ShowPro, calm down. We all know you don't like Trump.

That is the first time I have asked that question. Take some deep breaths...

Some of those 'reforms' you listed really sucked.

Count to 10, showpro

Another peanut gallery member heard from.

Besides, my comment had nothing to do with liking or not liking Trump. It was in response to a silly question about elected officials in general. Of course elected officials reform things. And of course not everyone likes every reform.

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:

quote:

Originally posted by justjoe:

And, almost equally surprising, a growing dislike for Cruz. His mixing of evangelical Christianity and politics I find disturbing. His alignment with Glenn Beck, a man with serious mental problems, is part of that troubling mixture.

Well, I've never had any illusions about Cruz. I support him because he's a resolute constitutionalist. If he's a prick, so be it. Just as long as he's a constitutionalist prick.

^^^^This.

Plus, I am NOT turned off, like justjoe is, by Cruz's evangelical streak.

I'm not turned off by his evangelical streak, please don't misunderstand. If he witnessed for Christ to his church group, that's his personal life. But in Iowa and elsewhere he has talked like an evangelist from the political platform. That is entirely inappropriate, and, if he were POTUS, would clearly violate the First Amendment.

quote:

Originally posted by justjoe:
if he were POTUS, would clearly violate the First Amendment.

Would not.

quote:

That is entirely inappropriate, and, if he were POTUS, would clearly violate the First Amendment.

What? How? The mere mention of God or Jesus or any other deity isn't "establishing" a religion.

quote:

Originally posted by justjoe:
If he witnessed for Christ to his church group, that's his personal life. But in Iowa and elsewhere he has talked like an evangelist from the political platform. That is entirely inappropriate and, if he were POTUS, would clearly violate the First Amendment.

fixed it for you.

I'm turned off by Cruz's pandering to evangelicals also. All he had to do was continue talking about limiting .gov, instead he talks all churchy. It's a major turn off for alot of people. Trump briefly discusses his religiousness, then changes subject back to something most people care about, & doesn't get suckered into talking about it at length.

Cruz is an idiot for taking the road he has taken & injecting a level of religiousness that irritates many people. Most people are Christian, but they don't wanna hear about it all the time. Most people are against big .gov, & would rather hear that.

Cruz has and continues to display an abysmal awareness of effective campaign strategy, wholly disconnected from today's realities, and truly preaching to the choir by not only pandering but all-but-exclusively focusing on his base, yet - somewhat inexplicably - managing to lose most states where the evangelical population is high.

It's hard to watch, in a sense, someone who is otherwise so bright and talented fucking up such basics at such a crucial time.

What concerns me more than his beliefs, however, are the exceedingly kooky and divisive beliefs and statements by Cruz's father, like the Right's version of Reverend Wright, which raises legitimate questions about how a life of that noise may have influenced Ted, because his dad is a fucking moonbat, and the shit he's said about Ted is cringe worthy for millions...

quote:

Originally posted by 46and2:

quote:

Originally posted by justjoe:
If he witnessed for Christ to his church group, that's his personal life. But in Iowa and elsewhere he has talked like an evangelist from the political platform. That is entirely inappropriate and, if he were POTUS, would clearly violate the First Amendment.

fixed it for you.

Thank you, and I realize that in a strict sense, the correction is proper. When I said "violate" I meant that a POTUS who witnessed for Christ would be moving in the -- forbidden-- direction of establishing a governmentally mandated religion. If you are a Christian, Cruz's behavior might not seem troubling. But now imagine that a Muslim POTUS comes into the State of the Union address chanting "Allahu akbar!" or a Hindu POTUS chanting the Veda.

It's not the way a POTUS, or a candidate for POTUS, should behave.

quote:

Originally posted by 46and2:
Cruz has and continues to display an abysmal awareness of effective campaign strategy, wholly disconnected from today's realities, and truly preaching to the choir by not only pandering but all-but-exclusively focusing on his base, yet - somewhat inexplicably - managing to lose most states where the evangelical population is high.

It's hard to watch, in a sense, someone who is otherwise so bright and talented fucking up such basics at such a crucial time.

What concerns me more than his beliefs, however, are the exceedingly kooky and divisive beliefs and statements by Cruz's father, like the Right's version of Reverend Wright, which raises legitimate questions about how a life of that noise may have influenced Ted, because his dad is a fucking moonbat, and the shit he's said about Ted is cringe worthy for millions...

I have been hearing this for a while from people about Cruz. I get that he wants the evangelical vote, but he doesn't have to preach in every speech.

It doesn't matter, since he's not going to be POTUS. I question the motivations of people who wear their religious beliefs on their sleeve.

Rush discussed the Cruz/evangelical connection yesterday. Rush said that Cruz determined after the 2012 election many of the evangelicals stayed home and didn't come out for Romney. He is of the opinion their numbers are significant enough to turn the election. Hence he is playing to a demographic (whether sincere or not).

pictures from a Rubio rally in Florida



Switching back to English , Rubio introduces @megynkelly on stage at his rally in Florida



Fox News producer tells crowd to "go crazy" for Rubio and @megynkelly when he waves his hands



total crowd at event

When your candidate keeps giving speeches in Spanish, there is a problem.

I've seen bigger crowds at bake sales.

From Powerline:

Trump Defends the Brand

Trump made a statement and took questions to claim victory in Tuesday’s primaries (video below. The event was staged at the Trump International Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida. The Trump brand of course looms large in his legend. Trump devoted a lot of time in his statement to speaking up for the success of the ventures carrying his name. I found his performance to be utterly bizarre.

It was also somewhat deficient in truth value. Michael Warren takes a look in the Weekly Standard column "Lies, Damned Lies and Donald J. Trump." Michael writes:

Donald Trump began his post-primary press conference in Jupiter, Florida, Tuesday evening by castigating the “$38 million dollars worth of horrible lies” against him by his political opponents over the last week. But in true Trump form, the GOP frontrunner delivered a litany of lies, falsehoods, and misleading statements of his own. Oh, and that $38 million figure Trump cited? It’s made up.

Mitt Romney’s speech last week blasting Trump for his underwhelming business record seems to have gotten under the candidate’s skin, and so Trump spent much of his Tuesday-night appearance boasting about his successes. Over at Mashable, Jonathan Ellis documents how much of what Trump said was simply wrong.

Trump Steaks? A defunct brand since 2007 that sold poorly in the first place, which explains why the meat being hawked at Trump National Golf Club as the real deal was actually from a local, non-Trump-affiliated butcher. Trump Water? Standard bottled water with the Donald’s branding. Trump Magazine? The actual publication closed down years ago, and the magazine Trump waved around at his press conference is actually a “glorified brochure” for Trump’s resort properties. Trump Airlines? Trump claims he sold it in a “great deal,” but the Wall Street Journal showed his attempt in 1989 to transform Eastern Airlines’s shuttle business into a luxury airline failed because it carried a “high debt load” and “eventually defaulted.”

Trump Vodka? Trump dismissed Romney’s criticism by ignoring it and talking instead about Trump Winery. To be fair, Trump Winery is a real, operating venture, but that’s as far as the truth goes. Trump claimed to own the winery in Charlottesville, Virginia, “100 percent,” but in fact Trump’s son Eric is the actual owner and neither Trump himself nor his organization have [any] ownership or management role. And the winery isn’t next to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, as he claimed Tuesday—that’s in Washington, D.C. He was probably thinking of Jefferson’s home in Charlottesville, Monticello, on which the memorial was modeled. And none of this addressed Trump Vodka, which is indeed defunct.

The truth is Ellis just scratched the surface…

Trump’s performance should be an embarrassment to his supporters. He really shouldn’t do it to them; they don’t deserve it. As with the supporters of Barack Obama in 2008, however, the will to believe is strong and the man is adept at taking advantage of it.

Link

You can have President Hillary Clinton if you like. These are your choices- Trump or Clinton.

But, wait, let's post some more meaningless articles. We can read them while Hillary is being sworn in.

Comparing Trump's popularity to Obama's in 2008 is preposterous. We actually know things about Donald Trump. He's been in the public spotlight for many years. Compare that to Obama? The special little star who came out of nowhere? Puh-leeze!! The reason I intend to vote for Trump is not the color of his skin. I mean, really, come on.

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:

quote:

That is entirely inappropriate, and, if he were POTUS, would clearly violate the First Amendment.

What? How? The mere mention of God or Jesus or any other deity isn't "establishing" a religion.

Standard misunderstanding. Freedom of religion, not freedom FROM religion.