The 2016 US Election (Part I)

[Pelranius]

How is it that Ted Cruz is even allowed to run? He was born in Canada and although I'm not shedding any tears over the fact that he left, doesn't that make him ineligible? I find it odd that his Republican competitors are being quiet about this, one would think they would have pounced on it the moment he decided to throw in his hat. I mean, all his competitors have to say is "he was born in Canada, and can't legally run" and that takes care of that.

His parents were both American citizens by the time he was born, IIRC, so that makes him natural born.

[Raw Shark]

I don't know Jeb's policies, but if they don't start calling him "John" it's going to seem like you're trying to run a googly-eyed hillbilly with teeth the size of credit cards, 'cause that's the image that I get when people say his...acronym? Nickname? What the hell do you call it when people use your initials as your name?

In the American South? Heroic immortality.

[Edi]

Jeb Bush has also been hard at work courting the xenophobic nativist GOP Tea Party base, so if he does get the party nomination, come general campaign time, he'll have some serious explaining to do with the Latino voters. As well, even if he is nominated, I don't think the Latino voters are going to be too fond of him, since it'd be his PARTY running things by and large and they certainly would not do anything about issues important to the Hispanic minority.

[Borgholio]

How is it that Ted Cruz is even allowed to run? He was born in Canada and although I'm not shedding any tears over the fact that he left, doesn't that make him ineligible? I find it odd that his Republican competitors are being quiet about this, one would think they would have pounced on it the moment he decided to throw in his hat. I mean, all his competitors have to say is "he was born in Canada, and can't legally run" and that takes care of that.

His parents were both American citizens by the time he was born, IIRC, so that makes him natural born.

They also are quite mindful of the "birther" shit they were flinging when Obama was seeking election, so they are keeping quiet in the hopes that they don't have to be on the receiving end of that as well.

[Napoleon the Clown]

How is it that Ted Cruz is even allowed to run? He was born in Canada and although I'm not shedding any tears over the fact that he left, doesn't that make him ineligible? I find it odd that his Republican competitors are being quiet about this, one would think they would have pounced on it the moment he decided to throw in his hat. I mean, all his competitors have to say is "he was born in Canada, and can't legally run" and that takes care of that.

His mother is citizen by birth, so he is citizen by birth. That's all it takes to meet the "natural born citizen" criteria.

[The Romulan Republic]

Didn't stop people saying Obama wasn't a citizen. But of course, he was not only black but a Democrat. Some Republicans pretty much regard them as not Americans already.

[SpottedKitty]

What the hell do you call it when people use your initials as your name?

They're initials? I'd wondered why I sometimes see his first name all in caps. I never saw this mentioned before since I first heard of him 10-15 years ago; is it a case of "everyone knows so no-one ever talks about it"?

[Lagmonster]

What the hell do you call it when people use your initials as your name?

They're initials? I'd wondered why I sometimes see his first name all in caps. I never saw this mentioned before since I first heard of him 10-15 years ago; is it a case of "everyone knows so no-one ever talks about it"?

Well, his name is "John Ellis Bush", so I figured that's where "J.E.B." came from, despite the fact that people call him "Jeb Bush". I had no idea about the existence of the southern general; that's probably not a coincidence then.

[Elheru Aran]

Yeah, Jeb Stuart is pretty popular among the Southern apologist crew, being one of the more flamboyant and fairly successful cavalry leaders of the war. It's no coincidence that John Ellis Bush would try to draw a little of that limelight to himself by taking advantage of the coincidental initials.

I'm seeing the term 'clown car' being bandied about to describe the Republican candidates. Somehow it makes sense.

[Raw Shark]

Jeb Bush has also been hard at work courting the xenophobic nativist GOP Tea Party base, so if he does get the party nomination, come general campaign time, he'll have some serious explaining to do with the Latino voters. As well, even if he is nominated, I don't think the Latino voters are going to be too fond of him, since it'd be his PARTY running things by and large and they certainly would not do anything about issues important to the Hispanic minority.

The members of the US Hispanic minority who would even consider voting Republican in the first place have never given half a fuck about issues important to the Hispanic minority, besides Pro Life. The fact that the guy even made the effort to speak their language fluently despite being the younger son of a powerful WASP dynasty is just icing on the cake.

They're initials? I'd wondered why I sometimes see his first name all in caps. I never saw this mentioned before since I first heard of him 10-15 years ago; is it a case of "everyone knows so no-one ever talks about it"?

Probably a little of both; it's kind of a civil war apologist dog whistle. People who think J.E.B. Stuart was a rockstar make the association automatically, but the rest of us over here tend to think, "Yeah, I know a guy whose (Bible-thumping) parents actually named him Jebediah, poor bastard," unless informed otherwise.

[jwl]

What the hell do you call it when people use your initials as your name?

They're initials? I'd wondered why I sometimes see his first name all in caps. I never saw this mentioned before since I first heard of him 10-15 years ago; is it a case of "everyone knows so no-one ever talks about it"?

Well, his name is "John Ellis Bush", so I figured that's where "J.E.B." came from, despite the fact that people call him "Jeb Bush". I had no idea about the existence of the southern general; that's probably not a coincidence then.

Well it's no different from detective comics comics or a light emitting diode light.

[SpottedKitty]

I'm seeing the term 'clown car' being bandied about to describe the Republican candidates. Somehow it makes sense.

<nod> It's come up at some point in at least the last three or four election cycles. Very apt, IMNSHO.

I'd heard of Stuart, of course, in my reading about the Civil War, but I hadn't made the connection (perhaps because I never knew Bush's actual first names). He wants to be known as "another JEB"...?

[Raw Shark]

[snip] I'd heard of Stuart, of course, in my reading about the Civil War, but I hadn't made the connection (perhaps because I never knew Bush's actual first names). He wants to be known as "another JEB"...?

He wants to be associated with the legend of JEB more than the actual public track record of JEB, probably. Actual JEB did pretty well at warfare in general but got epically thrown under the bus by his contemporaries for the more-or-less-pivotal and-probably-more-evenly-distributed-in-probability events at Gettysburg, but nevertheless remains a popular hero in some quarters.

[Borgholio]

At least Stuart wasn't as vilified as Longstreet (whose only crime was to try and knock some sense into Lee and convince him against launching the final charge), or poor Pickett...after whom the charge was named even though he only commanded one out of the three divisions present...

[Dalton]

Jeb is indeed an initialism for his full name, but he had it since very early in life. Was there supposed to be an intended reference?

[Raw Shark]

Hell if I know if it's intentional, but it certainly won't hurt him in the Southeast, or among fans of the Confederacy living elsewhere.

[The Romulan Republic]

O'Malley has officially entered the campaign for the Democratic Party.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/pol ... e24714110/

Former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley blasted social injustice and Wall Street excesses as he launched a White House bid on Saturday, casting himself as a younger, more liberal alternative to Democratic Party frontrunner Hillary Clinton.

“Powerful, wealthy special interests here at home have used our government to create, in our own country, an economy that is leaving a majority of our people behind,” said O’Malley, opening his 2016 presidential campaign with a rally at a waterfront park in downtown Baltimore.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders warns not to underestimate him in the 2016 Democratic race for the White House. In an AP interview, Sanders, who is formally launching his campaign Tuesday, said he has a strong message that's already resonating. (May 25)
WATCH
Bernie Sanders on 2016: 'Don't underestimate me'
O’Malley, who has aggressively courted his party’s liberal wing, began his political career in Baltimore, first as a member of city council and then as mayor.

Decrying big banks as having been behind the financial crisis of 2008, O’Malley singled out Goldman Sachs for particular criticism. He said Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein recently told his employees that “he’d be just fine” with either Republican Jeb Bush or Hillary Clinton as president after the November 2016 election.

“Well, I’ve got news for the bullies of Wall Street,” O’Malley said. “The presidency is not a crown to be passed back and forth by you between two royal families.”

Hillary Clinton is the wife of former President Bill Clinton while Jeb Bush, who has not yet formally announced his candidacy but is already considered a leading contender among Republican hopefuls, is son and brother of former Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.

Signs at O’Malley’s rally promised he would provide “new leadership,” but in fact he faces an uphill battle against former secretary of state Clinton, who consistently tops opinion polls to be the party’s nominee, and who enjoys national name recognition.

Beth Whitmer, a 62-year-old Baltimore resident who called herself a social liberal, said she felt she knows Clinton’s stances better than O’Malley’s.

“I would’ve liked it to have been a little fuller,” she said of the speech.

O’Malley now goes on to campaign in Iowa and New Hampshire, the states holding the earliest party nominating contests.

O’Malley, 52, joins a short list of candidates for the Democratic nomination. Alongside Clinton, 67, only Vermont’s independent Senator Bernie Sanders has entered the race, and he is viewed as having a marginal shot at success.

So far, eight Republicans are officially competing for their party’s nomination, with more likely candidates waiting in the wings.

“Welcome to the race, Gov. O’Malley. Looking forward to discussing strong families and communities. -H,” Clinton tweeted soon after the rally.

O’Malley launched his campaign at an uneasy time for Baltimore, which was rocked by riots last month over the death of Freddie Gray, a young black man, from injuries sustained while in police custody. Many residents have said the former mayor’s “zero tolerance” crime policies led to increased police brutality.

O’Malley cast the violence in economic terms, saying rioting “was not only about race, not only about policing in America.”

“Conditions of extreme and growing poverty, create conditions for extreme violence,” he said.

Progressive Change Campaign Committee, a group trying to push Democratic candidates to the left, praised his speech, saying he was so far “the only candidate to be outspoken about accountability for Wall Street bankers who committed crimes and crashed our economy.”

O’Malley honed his liberal credentials over two four-year terms as governor of a state with a long history of voting for Democratic presidential nominees.

He signed legislation that raised Maryland’s minimum wage, repealed the death penalty for future offenders, legalized same-sex marriage, and granted in-state tuition rates for undocumented immigrants attending Maryland’s universities.

He was born in Washington, D.C., and raised there and in Maryland. He attended the Catholic University of America in Washington and received his law degree from the University of Maryland. He lives in Maryland with his wife, a judge, and their four children.

I'm glad to see another further Left alternative to the loathsome Hillary Clinton, especially one who's probably less radical than Bernie Sanders. Don't get me wrong, I like some of what Sanders says, but the more choices voters have the better. And I worry that Sanders might be unelectable.

[Titan Uranus]

In the remote event that O'Malley becomes at all relevent the only thing that he will do is split the anti-corporate vote in the primary, which is not a good thing.

All of Sanders's positions are popular, it's empty suits like O'Malley and cooperate lapdogs like Clinton that are less electable. Whoever wins the Democratic nomination will win the general unless they turn out to be a child molester or die.

[The Romulan Republic]

Clinton is electable based simply on prominence and connections. She's still basically being treated as the heir of the Democratic Party.

Could Sanders challenge that? Maybe. Time will tell.

[Mr Bean]

Clinton is electable based simply on prominence and connections. She's still basically being treated as the heir of the Democratic Party.

Could Sanders challenge that? Maybe. Time will tell.

He can if he pulls off a few primary wins. His road to the nomination is in essence Barack Obama 2.0. Win in the Caucus states, get funding by having strong showings, turn the super delegates to his side and win.

[The Romulan Republic]

The thing is, Bernie Sanders isn't likely to get much funding from the wealthy given his politics. And he'd look like an utter hypocrite if he did. I'm not sure his funding situation will ever be as good as Obama's was.

[Mr Bean]

The thing is, Bernie Sanders isn't likely to get much funding from the wealthy given his politics. And he'd look like an utter hypocrite if he did. I'm not sure his funding situation will ever be as good as Obama's was.

Thing is he does not need it for the primary. He can leverage the hell out of his grass roots support which Obama built and is still mostly in place. Those people will rally for Bernie and demand payment under Hillary. After all the tiny field benefits him since Hillary has to talk about him because the Republicans will be running Anti-Hillary just like Bernie will be talking Anti-Hillary.

It's not a traditional race, it's all the Republicans and Bernie Sanders VS Hillary Clinton, the fact it's a primary campaign does not matter everyone assumes Hillary is the nominee.

[Elheru Aran]

It does look like a major Democrat talking point-- if Sanders and O'Malley get enough of their voice out there-- will be Wall Street and the corporate oligarchy. Will be pretty interesting to see how the Republicans contort themselves once it gets to the Presidential debates if that manages to wedge itself into the talking points.

[Dalton]

George Pataki and Lindsey Graham have made it official.

[Dalton]

Add a fourth Democrat - Lincoln Chafee just announced.