US Presidential Contenders

[Unorthodox]

Geraldo Rivera

uh oh.  they pulling out the big guns. 

"Any Press is Good Press." 

I think this defines the [Sleezebag] campaign to date.  AND IT SEEMS TO BE WORKING.  You are going to have to nail him down on WHAT, exactly, he plans to DO.  Build a wall, make jobs, etc etc etc.  Yeah, how you gonna do that?  How you going to handle foreign affairs when you can't even hold a diplomatic conversation with anyone who disagrees with you? 

Nail him down on those, he seems to be immune to the character flaws.  In fact, they seem to be STRENGTHS to the general public. 

[Unorthodox]

And, like it or not, he is DOMINATING the news cycle.  Totally annihilating everyone else.  Can't learn a damn thing about anyone other than what they said about [Sleezebag]. 

This continues, he wins.  Hands down. 

[Dio]

Geraldo Rivera

uh oh.  they pulling out the big guns. 

"Any Press is Good Press." 

I think this defines the [Sleezebag] campaign to date.  AND IT SEEMS TO BE WORKING.  You are going to have to nail him down on WHAT, exactly, he plans to DO.  Build a wall, make jobs, etc etc etc.  Yeah, how you gonna do that?  How you going to handle foreign affairs when you can't even hold a diplomatic conversation with anyone who disagrees with you? 

Nail him down on those, he seems to be immune to the character flaws.  In fact, they seem to be STRENGTHS to the general public.

When did character flaws become a strength? What level of degeneracy has this country reached? 

[Buster's Uncle]

We got Swiss people calling us commies.

[Rusty Edge]

When did character flaws become a strength? What level of degeneracy has this country reached? 

I think it's the consequences of the perpetual PR campaign, blame game and gridlock.
Democrats <----> Republicans   
President <----> Congress

There's a large part of the public that has become anti-politician as a result.
So anything that [Sleezebag] says that I would describe as a gaff, others consider proof that [Sleezebag] is speaking from the heart, and not reciting focus-group tested sound bytes or weasel-lawyer evasions as a professional politician would.

[Unorthodox]

When did character flaws become a strength? What level of degeneracy has this country reached? 

It's just [Sleezebag]. 

Look at the Anchor Baby situation:  [Sleezebag] uses it: no change/possible INCREASE.  Bush uses it: 8 point drop and scandalized in the press. 

There's this funny dual standard with [Sleezebag].  You attack his character issues you're just against him because he's not a politician, all the better for him.  Meanwhile, politicians stooping to his level get CRUSHED as would traditionally happen.     

[vonbach]

Suppose FOX decided to ignore him. Even going as far to list him in their poll questions as "other".

Do you think he could win the Republican nomination?

If they try to ignore him they lose he wins. The other candidates are a joke and everyone knows it.
Jeb Bush might as well be running for Mexican presidency and he has all the Bush family legacy besides.
The reason that [Sleezebag] is hammering everyone flat is the people of this country are sick to death of
our country becoming a third world country while were expected to pay for it. We have politicians that
don't act in our interests and expect us to pay for our own destruction besides.  Oh and if we object to
being demographically replaced were racists.The media lies to our face and expects us to believe them.
What do these people expect? Someone like [Sleezebag] was inevitable.

How you going to handle foreign affairs when you can't even hold a diplomatic conversation with anyone who disagrees with you? 

This is 90 % of his popularity. The more the media bully, whine and play their stupid little the stronger he gets.
Because he isn't scared of them and doesn't apologize to them. The more he does this the more powerful he gets.

[Buster's Uncle]

von, that there's a substantial post with analysis and everything.  This is more the style I want to encourage.

Have you ever seen Network?  "I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore!"  It could be the Tea Party slogan - or [Sleezebag]'s.

[Unorthodox]

This is 90 % of his popularity. The more the media bully, whine and play their stupid little the stronger he gets.
Because he isn't scared of them and doesn't apologize to them. The more he does this the more powerful he gets.

I agree.  I'm not asking the media to care about what they say to THEM.  How is he going to negotiate with Mexico or China.  Neither of which he's not exactly building bridges with, and both of which are rather key partners.  This might be too nebulous a concept for the general public, though. 

[Buster's Uncle]

Still, polls are one thing, but people who actually vote take it seriously -for whatever reason- unlike stupid polls.

That thing Mitt Romney got in trouble for saying last time about how 47% of the voters were automatically going to vote against him?  Not hard to see how that could be taken badly, but he kinda got deaned on that one - 'cause he was right.  Precious few voted for the monkey, a man with few real positives, considerable negatives, and good name recognition in the 2000 election - but almost half voted against Al Gore, who campaigns with all the seeming integrity of a hooker desperate to raise money for the next fix of heroine.  Nobody won that election, but, of two very weak candidates, Gore lost it.

I just can't believe -and you guys aren't wrong about the public perception that the media sucks, which is there because it's true- that antagonizing the information gatekeepers to the degree the Pig has isn't going to bite him on the butt.  Repeat: it's the people who decide what information to pass to the public he's making enemies of.  Reagan and people following in his style limited themselves to a little carping and slander about bias - this is going to play out differently over time, mark my words.

[Unorthodox]

Repeat: it's the people who decide what information to pass to the public he's making enemies of. 

Kind of.  It's the PEOPLE who decide which media to watch, and a failure to produce what they WANT will swiftly result in no jobs, though. 

They HAVE to cover [Sleezebag] bacause the people have spoken.  And, they can't just spin it all negative because it'll just make a bigger case FOR [Sleezebag]. 

Long term, yeah, they can potentially ween people off onto "real" candidates, but they need a little help from said candidates to make themselves interesting. 

Either the public gets bored with [Sleezebag]'s sideshow act, or someone else steps up.  That's our options. 

[Buster's Uncle]

Donald [Sleezebag]: I don't want David Duke's endorsement
Politico
By Brianna Ehley  | 8/26/15 6:55 PM EDT  | Updated 8/27/15 1:02 AM EDT



BIRCH RUN, MI - AUGUST 11: Republican presidential candidate Donald [Sleezebag] speaks at a press conference before delivering the keynote address at the Genesee and Saginaw Republican Party Lincoln Day Event August 11, 2015 in Birch Run, Michigan. This is [Sleezebag]'s first campaign event since his Republican debate last week. (Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)



Donald [Sleezebag] says he isn’t interested in the endorsement of David Duke, the anti-Semitic former Ku Klux Klan leader who praised the GOP presidential hopeful earlier this week on his radio show.

“I don’t need his endorsement; I certainly wouldn’t want his endorsement,” [Sleezebag] said during an interview with Bloomberg’s Mark Halperin and John Heilemann. He added: “I don’t need anyone’s endorsement.”

Asked whether he would repudiate the endorsement, [Sleezebag] said “Sure, I would if that would make you feel better.”

Duke sang [Sleezebag]’s praises on his radio show last week — calling him the “best of the lot” of GOP contenders. Duke isn’t the only white supremacist expressing support for [Sleezebag]. The New Yorker reported earlier this week that the white-nationalist website VDARE touted [Sleezebag] as “the first figure with the financial, cultural and economic resources to openly defy elite consensus.”

[Sleezebag], however, doesn’t appear to be concerned that he’s attracting these kinds of fans.

“A lot of people like me,” he said. “Republicans like me, liberals like me. Everybody likes me.”


Read more: -doesnt-want-david-duke-endorsement-121784.html#ixzz3k2Mscq8S]http://www.politico.com/story/2015/08/donald-[Sleezebag]-doesnt-want-david-duke-endorsement-121784.html#ixzz3k2Mscq8S

[vonbach]

I agree.  I'm not asking the media to care about what they say to THEM.  How is he going to negotiate with Mexico or China.  Neither of which he's not exactly building bridges with, and both of which are rather key partners.  This might be too nebulous a concept for the general public, though.

We don't need either country. We can build our own things and pick our own vegetables.
He's a business man and used to doing business. You don't have to like someone to do
business with them. I think both countries would respect him more than most other
recent leaders.
Personally I think a lot of countries would secretly breathe a sigh
of relief at seeing someone that would get Americas act together before it collapses and
disintegrates like the USSR did.

[Rusty Edge]

We don't need either country. We can build our own things and pick our own vegetables.

At first I was tempted to respond with an explanation of international co-dependence. We need each other.

Upon further reflection, I realized that no, say before the Korean war or thereabouts, we did pick our own vegetables, and build our own things, and were rather prosperous. Production shifted to China and Mexico in pursuit of cheap labor and lax environmental regs, making it more profitable.

Of course, that has hidden costs and consequences, beyond the obvious loss of good manufacturing jobs. Disregard for patents. Disregard for air quality, which is kind of a global issue. Insidiously, toxins have a way of being sold here hidden in pet foods, dry wall sheets, and knock-off pharmaceuticals.

Going forward, maybe we don't need that any more. A lot of manufacturing can be done with machines and robots that couldn't before. If we run short of young people to pick our vegetables, we can address that with work visas and regulated immigration from a global pool.

Anyway, I think vonbach has a point this time. Long term, we are not over a barrel from a negotiation standpoint. Today we need China to keep WalMart open, but beyond that?

[Buster's Uncle]

Why keep Wal-Mart open?  It's evil.