US Presidential Contenders

[Rusty Edge]

BTW he's also well known for being a lunatic. Literally insane. As in he starts screaming about nuking Russia
or Iran and throwing fax machines at staffers. He got on air once and started singing "Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran."
Its the reason he wont ever be allowed to be president.
Its simply too dangerous.

I have no knowledge with regard to his sanity.

I would certainly agree that any boss who throws a fax machine at staff is a bad boss.

As for the "Bomb Iran" song, it was popular during the Hostage Crisis. Catchy tune, that. Lots of people preferred the idea of retaliation to 444 days of handwringing, back in the day.
McCain doing that isn't so different than Regan's sound check for his radio broadcast in which he said something like The Soviet Union will cease to exist in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1... as a joke. I don't think that proved Regan was crazy.

[Buster's Uncle]

Mark down that I defended Reagan about something - I thought it was just a joke, if impolitic and embarrassing, and that he nailed the delivery.

[Rusty Edge]

here's what I think of Senator McCain.

Ah yes songbird McCain. Thats what the vets call him. He should be hung for treason.
Its well known that he cooperated with the enemy at that time.
He was also responsible for the USS Forestall fire that killed 167 people.
He had to be transferred to another ship to avoid getting lynched.
The only reason he wasn't hung is his daddy was an admiral.

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2015/07/21/john-sidney-mccain-iii-patriot-or-trader/

 

That article has a byline of "unattributed"

1 & 2) I never heard that before.
3) No, he was not responsible for the Forrestal fire.
4) As best I can tell, he left the warship in a combat zone without permission. First he went to Saigon and got drunk, then he arranged to get himself posted to another carrier. If you want to hang him as a deserter, you have a point. He wasn't transferred to avoid a lynching. He could very well have been so eager to fight the enemy ( if only for career reasons ) that he couldn't wait to get back in the cockpit.
5) As the son and grandson of 4star admirals, his dad still serving, I wouldn't be surprised if he got preferential treatment sometimes, even without anybody asking for it.

Had he not been the son and grandson of admirals, there is no chance he would have been accepted into the prestigious naval flight training program over far better qualified officers. On his way to becoming a North Vietnamese ace, the aviator lost 3 expensive aircraft on routine, non-combat flights. Little was made of all that, because he was, you know, the son and grandson of admirals.

I don't know if he was accepted into the program over far better qualified officers or not. I certainly agree that an ordinary pilot would have been grounded.

John McCain’s most horrendous loss occurred in 1967 on the USS Forrestal. Well, not horrendous for him. The starter motor switch on the A4E Skyhawk allowed fuel to pool in the engine. When the aircraft was “wet-started,” an impressive flame would shoot from the tail. It was one of the ways young hot-shots got their jollies.

There's no denying that McCain was a hotshot A-4 pilot. Perhaps he did this sometime.

Investigators and survivors took the position that John McCain deliberately wet-started to harass the F4 pilot directly behind him. The cook off launched an M34 Zuni rocket that tore through the Skyhawk’s fuel tank, released a thousand pound bomb, and ignited a fire that killed the pilot plus 167 men. Before the tally of dead and dying was complete, the son and grandson of admirals had been transferred to the USS Oriskany.

NO.
 
1) He was parked with his tail hanging over the ocean. Therefore, there was no plane behind him. It doesn't matter if he wet started or not.
2) The fire was started by an F4 on the opposite side of the flight deck, due to circumventing of the safety protocols ( in an effort to launch more planes in a shorter period of time ) and a power surge in the switch from external to internal power. It launched the rocket. The rocket DID NOT cook off. The rocket started the fire. The fire did not start the rocket.
3) The rocket struck the A-4 sitting beside McCain, and possibly his as well, as you described.
The rocket started the fire, as you described. It didn't detonate, but it had a hot exhaust. What made matters worse is that the carrier had obsolete bombs that were leaking, and should have been disposed of rather than used. That's what killed so many men.

4) John McCain did not cause the USS Forrestal fire. He was nearly killed in it like the pilot beside him. Neither did he stick around to help his ravaged ship and shipmates in the aftermath of the fire.

Feel free to hate the guy, but don't blame him for the Forrestal Tragedy.

[Buster's Uncle]

Siiigh.  I try to say something fair and even-handed, and this ugliness results.  I can't win.

(Nothing to do with you, Rusty, except you need to fix the formatting on that post, bad.)

[Rusty Edge]

Going to bed. Too tired to notice anything was wrong, even after you pointed  out my error.

I will post what I was about to post -
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2015/09/19/straw-poll-rand-paul-tops-among-mich-gop-activists/72504936/


Mackinac Island — Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul won the presidential straw poll at this weekend’s Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference, capturing 22 percent of the vote among a field of 16 candidates.

Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina came in second with 15 percent, followed by Ohio Gov. John Kasich in third place with 13.8 percent and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in fourth with 13 percent in The Detroit News/MIRS presidential straw poll.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush finished fifth in the straw poll with 9.7 percent of the 785 registered conference attendees who voted.

[Buster's Uncle]

...

Too bad half those people even placed, but given the givens, I see Bush last and Paul I-hope-he-keeps-non-pandery first, and I'll take it.  I could read that list of names all day.

[vonbach]

Feel free to hate the guy, but don't blame him for the Forrestal Tragedy.

Lol I've seen the video. Yeah He caused it.
Oh just FYI his father was the one investigating it.
He was also covered up the USS liberty incident.

Perhaps he did this sometime.

Its not really in doubt, I've seen the footage myself.
They showed the raw footage on air.

http://criminalstate.com/press/Chapter4.pdf

[Rusty Edge]

ON TOPIC

As I predicted, Fiorina gains at the frontrunner's expense.

-republican-2016-poll/index.html]http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/20/politics/carly-fiorina-donald-[Sleezebag]-republican-2016-poll/index.html

"
Washington (CNN)—Carly Fiorina shot into second place in the Republican presidential field on the heels of another strong debate performance, and Donald [Sleezebag] has lost some support, a new national CNN/ORC poll shows.

The survey, conducted in the three days after 23 million people tuned in to Wednesday night's GOP debate on CNN, shows that [Sleezebag] is still the party's front-runner with 24% support. That, though, is an 8 percentage point decrease from earlier in the month when a similar poll had him at 32%.
Fiorina ranks second with 15% support -- up from 3% in early September. She's just ahead of Ben Carson's 14%, though Carson's support has also declined from 19% in the previous poll.

Driving [Sleezebag]'s drop and Fiorina's rise: a debate in which 31% of Republicans who watched said [Sleezebag] was the loser, and 52% identified Fiorina as the winner.
***********************************************

But one established politician has seen his standing rise after flashing foreign policy chops on the debate stage. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida -- identified as Wednesday's winner by 14% of Republicans, putting him second behind Fiorina -- is now in fourth place with 11% support, up from 3% in a previous poll.

In fifth place is former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, at 9%. He's followed by Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee at 6% each, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky at 4%, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at 3%, Ohio Gov. John Kasich at 2% and former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania at 1%.

Five other candidates received less than one-half of 1 percentage point support: former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, former New York Gov. George Pataki and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. "


****************************************************

I must admit I'm shocked that Walker has tanked. He'd be trading palaces at the kid's table with Santorum. That's pretty bad. I think the Scott Walker at the last debate was the real Scott Walker.
If that doesn't appeal to Republicans at the Reagan Library, it sounds like I get to keep my governor. As I said, he'll remain in the race as long as the Koch brothers say so. I'm sure he'd like to last until the debate scheduled for Wisconsin, at least.

The poll also tracks favorability, comparing the net likability of each person.
Current rankings- Carson, Rubio, Fiorina, Huckabee, Cruz, and [Sleezebag]. Biggest gainer Fiorina. Biggest loser [Sleezebag].

[Rusty Edge]

-still-leads-n430316]http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/nbc-online-survey-fiorina-won-debate-[Sleezebag]-still-leads-n430316

This is a different sort of survey, but still shows a Fiorina surge at [Sleezebag]'s expense, and a Walker nosedive.

[Buster's Uncle]

Campaign Staffers Making Progress Conditioning Hillary Clinton To Replicate Emotions
The Onion
NEWS  September 16, 2015   Vol 51 Issue 37     



Staffers test Clinton’s emotional responses by reading through a list of triggering phrases such as “rising unemployment,” “first in their family to graduate college,” and “devastated by a tornado.”



BROOKLYN, NY—After several months of diligent effort, staff members working on Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign confirmed Wednesday they have made significant progress in conditioning her to convincingly recreate and convey a limited spectrum of emotions.

According to aides who drill the Democratic frontrunner for several hours each day on her emotional responses to a variety of stimuli, Clinton can now effectively exhibit concern, mild excitement, and incredulity. Intensive training is reportedly still underway on some of the more challenging-to-produce emotions, such as polite interest and personal warmth.

“The headway Hillary has made is really encouraging, especially when you consider what we started with,” said staffer Cheryl Dumás, who later added that when she began working with Clinton, the candidate was only able to fluctuate between stony neutrality and terrifying anger. “We’re very proud that she can now display a virtually indistinguishable facsimile of empathy. It’s the result of a behavioral modification technique in which we rigorously reinforce any approximations of compassion that happen to flash across her face while she listens to the concerns of voters.”

“We’re hopeful that she’ll have a functional range of 11 or even 12 emotions by the time the early primaries roll around,” Dumás added.

In her current program of operant conditioning, Clinton is reportedly shown a series of images—such as a widow crying at her spouse’s funeral, a family opening presents on Christmas morning, and former House speaker Newt Gingrich—designed to induce specific emotional responses, and depending on the appropriateness of her subsequent facial expressions and other body language, she is either rewarded or punished.

Staffers said they began the process by slowly and painstakingly pairing a correct reaction with a correct stimulus. They reportedly first trained the former secretary of state to reproduce a “happy” emotion by repeatedly showing her a photo of a small child playing with a kitten and then rubbing a soft cloth on her face while physically holding her mouth in the shape of a smile until, eventually, she could display a passable simulacrum of joy.

“There are definitely some crossed wires, like how she nods and applauds after hearing the story of a family that lost their home to foreclosure,” campaign consultant Allison Stevens said. “But it’s just a matter of time and patience. When she gets a response wrong, we spritz her in the face with cold water from a spray bottle, and when she gets one right, we let her work on her memoirs for a little bit or call her ‘Madam President’ in soothing tones—she loves that.”

“She also really likes Luna Bars,” Stevens continued. “She’ll do just about anything for a Luna Bar!”

Staff members acknowledged that Clinton would be subject to extremely rapid regression if she were not conditioned with absolute consistency. They told reporters they didn’t want her to go back to the days when people she met on the campaign trail would voice their deepest worries and she would respond to each by loudly stating, “I am feeling empathy toward you.”

“There have definitely been some setbacks,” senior aide Tim Balducci said. “Yesterday, when a reporter asked for her thoughts on the surge in refugees crossing the Mediterranean, she panicked and rapidly cycled through the eight or so responses we’d equipped her with thus far before making a painfully stilted reply. We really hope to get that ironed out before the first debate next month.”

Other campaigns have taken note of Clinton’s progress and implemented similar programs, with Chris Christie’s staffers reporting this week that they have already had some limited success in training the New Jersey governor not to bite people or defecate on the floor.

http://www.theonion.com/article/campaign-staffers-making-progress-conditioning-hil-51320

[Rusty Edge]

  Thanks, I needed that!

[Buster's Uncle]

I was very tempted to add to the picture caption "Here, she's experiencing a touch of gas, but her trainers think they can incorporate it into the behavior modification regime."

-And of course a lot of jokes about Christy pooping the floor and/or biting people are trying to write themselves...

[Buster's Uncle]

Just saw a headline that Governor Walker is about to officially drop out of the race in the next few hours...

[Rusty Edge]

Yes. My wife read something to me about it.

His money has dried up. He had a larger organization than some, planning for the long campaign. He was loathe to lay anyone off. As governor, he always strived not to lay anyone off, even though he's an austere kind of guy. The official explanation is due within the hour, I may be cooking or dining when it happens, but I'll update tonight.

[Rusty Edge]

http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/21/politics/scott-walker-drops-out-2016-election/

"Scott Walker drops out of 2016 presidential race


Washington (CNN)—Scott Walker announced Monday he is dropping out of the GOP presidential race.

The Wisconsin governor entered the primary in July as a front-runner in Iowa and a darling of both the conservative base and powerful donors after winning battles against public unions in his left-leaning home state. But that promising start was quickly dashed after poor debate performances dried up support from donors.

"Today, I believe that I am being called to lead by helping to clear the field in this race so that a positive, conservative message can rise to the top of the field. With this in mind, I will suspend my campaign immediately," Walker said at a news conference in Madison, Wisconsin.

"I encourage other Republican presidential candidates to consider doing the same so that the voters can focus on a limited number of candidates who can offer a positive, conservative alternative to the current front-runner," said Walker, referencing businessman Donald [Sleezebag]. "This is fundamentally important to the future of our party, and, more important, the future of the country."

The governor called some of his top supporters earlier Monday afternoon informing them of his decision, according to one Walker insider. This person said Walker's recent plummet in the polls was a big factor in his decision-making.

He sounded "upbeat," they said, and his message to supporters was, "I did the best I could."


It goes on to say that the money dried up after the Ohio debate. His national poll numbers plummeted, too. With a collapse in his Iowa polls, he didn't see a way forward.

Local coverage indicates that while the campaign, ( which started late) was out of money , his PAC is still flush, and has a lot of Iowa airtime pre-purchased. There is speculation that his cooperation could lead to a cabinet office.