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2016 Republican Thread


southsider2k5
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QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Feb 24, 2016 -> 04:00 PM)
Glad you brought up turnout. That's a huge story that no one seems to be talking about. Republican turnout is absolutely shattering the previous records across the board. Is it Trump? Anti-Trump? Simple hate for the Dems?

 

Democrat turnout on the other hand is way down compared to 2008. I guess there's no inspirational candidate there.

The Republican field is, if nothing else, far more exciting than the Democrat one. It was a huge field, still pretty big, with candidates swigning wildly to the right and a carnival barker standing atop the pile. Not surprising at all their primaries are getting big numbers.

 

The Dems have been a 2-person race basically all along. And one of them is old hat to everyone. Sanders has some novelty and excitement, but he's really just the guy trying to keep the Dems from sliding right to fill the void left by the now ridiculously far-right GOP field.

 

 

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QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Feb 24, 2016 -> 03:46 PM)
I think the wall street costs, etc, are something that Trump would rail on Hillary to the tee and people have a general distaste for wall street, etc. He'll hit on the moderate issues. I never thought I'd say this (even a week ago) but I see more momentum and signs for him actually being president than I ever did before. Nevada gave more reason for that where Trump really grew his overall pull (as well). The old theory was everyone jumping off the falling candidates was going to gravitate to non Trump candidates, but the reality hasn't been so set and as I pointed out previously, as he continues to build momentum more of those "swing" voters or potential non-trump voters will either not vote in the primary (because they realize Trump has already won) or turn their vote to Trump.

 

And those non-primary voting conservatives who, as pissed off as they are with Trump, are not going to sit back and vote for Hillary or Bernie. They republicans are livid with the democrats and the turnouts in the primary are evidence for how irate and motivated the actual base is (and this more than anything should be what really gets the DNC worried), the vote and turnout will ultimately be their for the republican and as people go out, Trump is going to do what he can to bring back in those anti-trump conservatives by throwing him a more experienced VP candidate (imo). Lets just hypothetically say it is Kasich or even Rubio, do you really think those people are going to vote independent or democrat vs. voting for a Trump / Rubio or Kasich ticket? Would Rubio or Kasich turn down the VP bid, I don't think so.

 

The problem for GOP is that it isnt enough to just get GOP votes, they need to siphon Democrat votes. The best way to do this was to take advantage of Democrat ambivalence towards their candidates. The problem with Trump being so polarizing is that when you polarize you motivate the opposition. Its not enough just to get higher Republican turnout, because Trump will likely mean higher democrat turnout.

 

You cant compare Hillary/Sanders turnout because a lot of Democrats simply dont care about those 2. But if its Trump versus either one of them, I doubt a lot of Democrats will be sitting at home.

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QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 24, 2016 -> 02:04 PM)
The Republican field is, if nothing else, far more exciting than the Democrat one. It was a huge field, still pretty big, with candidates swigning wildly to the right and a carnival barker standing atop the pile. Not surprising at all their primaries are getting big numbers.

 

The Dems have been a 2-person race basically all along. And one of them is old hat to everyone. Sanders has some novelty and excitement, but he's really just the guy trying to keep the Dems from sliding right to fill the void left by the now ridiculously far-right GOP field.

Agree, but you can't ignore recent history either, where the republicans have gotten the vote and rocked the vote. A similar trend existed during the post Bush lull (and late in the Bush period) where the momentum was with the dems. Now you have the inverse (which is a normal and in reality healthy eb and flow between conservative / liberal view points). Look at TV ratings, etc, everything is just across the board. The republicans are so pissed off and they are going to be out in full force. I don't feel as if the democrats, at this point, are in that same state and I also don't know that they have a candidate who is rallying them together with that edge.

 

When push comes to shove, Trump has levers he can effectively pull that gets the entire conservative movement behind him. My gut is Cruz is gone after Super Tuesday and it will be the last ditch effort for Rubio to make a late push (which I think will be too late). Trump, unless he bombs in the debate, will have such a wide margin by that point (and all the momentum) and I think it will be too little too late for Rubio (although Cruz exiting might be just enough to make a late run). If Cruz stays in past super tuesday, its hopeless for anyone to get Trump, imo (barring him bombing at the debate).\

 

PS: Please note, this will also be a debate where Trump will likely not have to do much mud slinging because the other candidates will be attacking each other vs. the front-runner.

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One strategy would be for Trump to bring in a female on the ticket...that would mitigate some of the misogynist attacks from Hillary, which would of course be countered by attacking Bill Clinton's proclivities and their partnership/marriage, which might not be the best ground for her to defend since it's so "Washington/Inside the Beltway." Not sure the traditional "abortion rights" tack will work well either, simply because Trump can turn around and moderate his position on a dime and come across as at least fairly reasonable compared to the "fire and brimstone" must have an abortion even in the cases of rape/incest/health threat to the mother religious right.

 

It has to be a lot more credible choice than Sarah Palin, however. A younger, more moderate/centrist candidate might do the trick.

 

Nikki Haley is the obvious choice, but she's already aligned with Rubio. Then again, push comes to shove, it would be quite difficult to imagine her turning it down. It would be a huge opportunity to elevate her national profile and continue to position for 2020 were this general election to go south for whatever reason.

Edited by caulfield12
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Condi Rice could become the most powerful person in politics if she earned to. She'd be an obvious choice if she ever wants to get back into politics, but it doesn't seem like it. She did give a great speech at the 2012 convention. No way would Trump go back to Hadley after their war of words.

 

Kelly Ayotte seems to want the job. But she probably has to worry about her own campaign first. Scott Brown is the name that keeps coming up over and over again, but I don't see it after he's lost twice in a row. Susana Martinez would check off a few boxes if that's the goal.

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QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Feb 24, 2016 -> 10:05 PM)
Condi Rice could become the most powerful person in politics if she earned to. She'd be an obvious choice if she ever wants to get back into politics, but it doesn't seem like it. She did give a great speech at the 2012 convention. No way would Trump go back to Hadley after their war of words.

 

Kelly Ayotte seems to want the job. But she probably has to worry about her own campaign first. Scott Brown is the name that keeps coming up over and over again, but I don't see it after he's lost twice in a row. Susana Martinez would check off a few boxes if that's the goal.

 

Cathy McMorris Rodgers is another possible candidate.

 

Knowing Trump, it will probably be Ann Coulter or Laura Ingraham, haha.

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QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Feb 25, 2016 -> 12:17 AM)
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2016...at-Donald-Trump

 

 

Are Republicans finally coming up with a plan to beat Donald Trump?

 

Good article.

Rubio hasn't attacked Trump even close to what you would think for someone in his position. Kind of makes me think he's going for the VP bid. Of course I believe the reason he is polling second is that he has strayed away from Trump. Do it at your own peril. It hasn't worked for anyone else. No idea why it'd work for Mr. Roboto.

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QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Feb 25, 2016 -> 08:43 PM)
Pretty sure the Republican party paid the entire crowd to cheer for rubio every time he speaks and crickets for the other 4.

 

It's funny how every debate crowd boos Trump and cheers against him but he's winning the nomination.

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Every time Kasich spoke, he looked and sounded like a guy who knows what he is saying makes sense, but is just completely flummoxed and annoyed that no one is taking him seriously in favor of a bunch of imbeciles

 

In terms of trustworthiness and "acting Presidential" he is by far the best of the field. He still has plenty of policy flaws, but probably fewer than the others.

 

I really want to take bits and pieces of all seven of them (yes, even Trump and Hillary) to combine into one President.

Edited by HickoryHuskers
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One wonders if Haley actually accepted VP spot under Trump if she would be forgiven by establishment faithful...whether they would try to influence her to turn it down?

 

Or would she still be seen as a "good soldier" for trying to help Rubio in SC?

Edited by caulfield12
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Watched Cruz and Trump live on CNN this morning at airport. I will say Cruz was way better than he is in debates. He spoke in a voice I could listen to and made some good points about why he'd be better than Trump.

Trump ... I can see why people want him to be president. He's just different. He's kind of a breath of fresh air. I saw the question about the white supremists supporting him. It was a dumb gotcha type question and Trump gave a great great answer. He said, 'I don't know David Duke; I do not recall ever meeting him. Listen, CNN can give me a list of all the organizations supporting me, I'll research them and get back to you what I think of them all.'

He's getting roasted on twitter for it, but I think it was a fricking good answer. It came across good on TV, I'll tell u that.

 

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It does seem as if Trump is finally starting to crumble lately, between his latest foot-in-mouth moment (which was a doosie even for him) and people seemingly consolidating more behind Rubio. Again, just a question of time - Super Tuesday is tomorrow. If he really doesn't start to fall apart until after then, that could make things really complicated.

 

And I've now seen guys like Nate Silver and Bill James harping on the incredibly, historically high disapproval and not-ever-for-him numbers Trump has. He just has no shot in a general, even if he manages to get the nomination (which I still think isn't the likely outcome, but is certainly possible).

 

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