US Presidential Contenders

[Rusty Edge]

Today's gleanings.

#1) Rubio is talking about Utah, regardless of whether he wins or loses his home state today. Apparently he refuses to quit if ( when ) he fails to win.

#2) Michigan Democratic Primary upset explained- Hillary has been shifting towards campaigning against [Sleezebag], and analysts have been saying her super delegates make her inevitable. Well, Sanders supporters feel the Bern and vote. Clinton supporters felt taken for granted, and had better stuff to do now that spring is here. Hillary blames defections to Kasich.

#3) Anecdotal evidence- Everybody my social media-millennial niece knows in Illinois who supports Bernie voted for him- by afternoon. I can tell you that from the perspective of a precinct worker, they're doing a great job. Form the analysts point of view- Black Lives Matter is a thing in Illinois, and not only has Sanders done a better job of showing concern for the issue, but Clinton has been campaigning with Rom Emanuel, who is held in contempt  regarding BLM.

#4) I was preparing and eating dinner, now I see that Marco is making his campaign suspension speech.

#5) Anecdotal- In FLA, we heard from a retired CEO who said that Hillary looks like the lesser of 3 evils. At least that socialist Sanders has principals. [Sleezebag] has ego. President [Sleezebag] will be changing the name to the "[Sleezebag] House". So they voted for Rubio as a protest.

I can see it now "[Sleezebag] Force 1" and the beltway renamed as the "Trumpway", because like The Donald, it's bigger than Washington.


#6) The Buckeye State. This is based upon what I heard and saw today, Donald [Sleezebag] has no chance in a general election. Why? Because Ohio is a bellwether in national elections. Based upon precinct, county, and Secretary of Ohio reports, there were unprecedented crossover votes. Where Republicans
normally comprised 7% of the registration, they represented 42% of the turnout. Independents were turning out and Democrats were crossing over in droves- knowing they would be classified by their state as Republicans for 4 years. Apparently they went strongly against [Sleezebag].

I don't know if it's as Kasich suggests, Ohioans don't like extremists, or as I suppose, Ohio is a microcosm of America, maybe both. What I saw was that Ohio rejected Donald [Sleezebag], which means he has no path to the presidency.

I know, events are moving faster than my fingers. My wife is doing taxes, and I keep getting interrupted to fuss with the printer.

Kasich is making his victory speech. Praising Rubio. ... Crap, Real Life calls again.

[Buster's Uncle]

I am embarrassed to be from one of the stupid states; that's for sure...

[Unorthodox]

Today's gleanings.

#1) Rubio is talking about Utah, regardless of whether he wins or loses his home state today. Apparently he refuses to quit if ( when ) he fails to win.

I hear the poll numbers are something like 80% anti-[Sleezebag] here, to the point he won't even come here to try, so easy pickins for whoever opposes. 

[Buster's Uncle]

Sanders Sends Vegan Thugs to Attack Peace-Loving Nazis
The New Yorker
By Andy Borowitz  March 14, 2016



Credit PHOTOGRAPH BY J. D. POOLEY / GETTY



CINCINNATI (The Borowitz Report)—Republican front-runner Donald T rump was crying foul on Monday after Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders allegedly dispatched an army of vegan thugs to attack a rally of peace-loving Nazis in Cincinnati.

According to T rump, he had begun to address a group of “orderly and civil Nazis” at a downtown arena when his audience was suddenly set upon by an unruly mob of angry vegans, many menacingly clad in Birkenstocks and sustainable garments.

The Sanders supporters, singing an alarmingly militant version of Simon & Garfunkel’s “America,” marched into the arena and began “intimidating and threatening” the Nazis, T rump said.

“Make no mistake about who is starting the violence at these rallies,” T rump said. “It’s the vegans.”

Carol Foyler, a Nazi from suburban Cincinnati, said that she feared for her life when one of the vegans “ripped a T rump sign” from her hands and “tried to recycle it.”

Harland Dorrinson, a Kentucky Nazi who drove to Ohio to hear T rump speak, said he would never have attended the rally if he had known “there would be troublemaking vegans there.”

“One of them tried to swing an NPR tote bag at my head,” the terrified Nazi said.

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/sanders-sends-vegan-thugs-to-attack-peace-loving-nazis

[Unorthodox]

-signed-baseball-endorse-him-for-president/]http://nesn.com/2016/03/pete-rose-didnt-send-donald-[Sleezebag]-signed-baseball-endorse-him-for-president/

Donald [Sleezebag] is a fan of Pete Rose, but the love isn’t necessarily mutual.

Rose’s attorney, Ray Genco, told The Washington Post on Monday his client never sent the signed baseball of which [Sleezebag] boasted receiving the previous day. Genco added that Rose, an Ohio native and hero, did not endorse [Sleezebag]’s presidential candidacy ahead of Tuesday’s primary in the Buckeye State.

“We do not know how Mr. [Sleezebag] got the ball,” Genco said. “I can’t authenticate the ball from some Twitter picture.

“I can’t speak to how [Sleezebag] got the ball. Pete didn’t send it. I made that clear.”

Genco further clarified Rose’s stance on this year’s presidential election.

“Pete has made a point not to ‘endorse’ any particular presidential candidate,” Genco wrote in a letter to The Post later in the day. “Though he respects everyone who works hard for our country — any outlet that misinterpreted a signed baseball for an endorsement was wrong. Pete did not send any candidate a baseball or a note of endorsement.

“That said, through my discussions with Pete about this cycle, I’ve learned that he believes that who to vote for is a decision each voter should decide for him or herself. Pete knows and has impressed upon me that, above politics, it’s leadership and teamwork (that) make all the difference. Both the left and right are baseball fans — and it is those institutions and their people that make America exceptional.”

[Sleezebag] on Sunday shared a photo of a baseball, which appeared to bear Rose’s signature and the candidate’s campaign slogan. [Sleezebag]’s campaign declined to answer The Post’s questions about whether Rose actually sent him the ball, so we’ll have to take Genco at his word.

Rose is staying out of this one.

The pic I've seen, the 'message' looks nothing like the signature, handwriting wise. 

[Unorthodox]

Shortly after [Sleezebag]'s tweet on Sunday evening, baseball fans began to question the authenticity of the ball, including making the case "Pete Rose will put anything on a ball for $75" one collector said.

In his own tweet, John Fischesser showed various other balls signed by Rose in a tongue-in-cheek manner that read, "I was the first man on the moon," or "Sorry I screwed up the economy."

FiveThirtyEight.com noted Rose has also written things like "Sorry I shot JFK" and "Sorry I broke up the Beatles."

Guess the handwriting matches his other signatures...   

[vonbach]

Sanders Sends Vegan Thugs

Given that the track record of the anti-fa types include thirty on one gang attacks, getting you fired from your job,
attacking your wife and kids and burning down peoples houses this isn't funny at all.

[BU Admin]

von, it turns out the moderator had your back on the gloating smilies issue - but after extensive discussion, we agree that the whole of your actions in Recreation Commons are an ongoing problem that shows absolutely no sign of letting up, and must stop.

I appreciate that you seem to have never intended to grief the rest of us, but a headache the bulk of your posting in this folder has been, and seems certain to continue to be.  If it was as simple as not agreeing with your opinions, you'd have been perma'd by September -after months of trying to persuade you to adopt a more diplomatic style, more fitting to the room and the culture here- but this can't be allowed to go on.  (Not least for my own bad behavior while flailing around trying to find the best response, some of which does make me ashamed.)

With regret -seriously- I'm taking the gentlest measure I can think of to put an end to it; no more posting by you in Recreation Commons.

I really do regret that it's come to this.  I love what you've contributed in the on topic areas, including Other Games, and hope you'll see fit to continue with that.

[Buster's Uncle]

What’s next for Marco Rubio?
Yahoo Politics
Jon Ward  Senior Political Correspondent  March 15, 2016



MIAMI — The big question facing Marco Rubio is not what he does next but how he chooses to do it, based on the lessons he draws from his defeat.

Rubio, whose U.S. Senate term ends in January and whose bid for the White House splintered on the shoals of his home state Tuesday night, could run for Florida governor in 2018. He could leave politics for a time, go into business and make some money, or start a nonprofit and then run for president again in 2020. But it is hard for many to see him fading altogether from the political scene.

“It is not God’s plan that I be president in 2016, or maybe ever,” Rubio said in his concession speech here Tuesday night. His use of the word “maybe” was a clear indication that, already, 2020 is on his mind.

Assuming his time in public life is not at an end, the dilemma facing the 44-year-old, still-baby-faced politician is who he chooses to become after his bruising experience in the time of [Sleezebag].

Does he retain the hopeful, optimistic tone and message that facilitated his rise to national office in 2010? Or does he try to somehow chase the worship of celebrity and the rage in the electorate that has been exposed, and encouraged, by Republican frontrunner Donald [Sleezebag]?

“I do worry that he learns the wrong lessons from this cycle, and thinks he lost because he wasn’t angry or insane enough,” said Steve Schale, a top Democratic operative in Florida who has admired Rubio’s political skills as a member of the opposition party.

“If he learns the wrong lessons, he’ll go off and do crazy, insane things for the next few years, and that won’t end well,” Schale said.

Schale’s advice could be self-serving — he’s close to one Democrat who may run for governor herself in 2018, Rep. Gwen Graham — but his recommendation for Rubio would be to not run in 2018, and to go into business instead.

“Go keep your head down and do something outside of politics,” Schale said. “In the modern world, you don’t need a political platform to succeed in politics. He’s a young and talented guy, and success in the real world would allow him to mount a comeback at almost any time.”

There is some logic to that argument. Certainly in this election, any whiff of time spent in elected office has been politically poisonous. [Sleezebag] had nearly universal name ID with the electorate due to his years in reality TV and before that, from his life as a New York businessman who dabbled in the world of sports entertainment.



Marco Rubio announces the suspension of his campaign during a rally in Miami on Tuesday. (Photo: Carlo Allegri/Reuters)


[Sleezebag] has made a career of courting controversy. Rubio, if he wanted, could dive headfirst into the world of celebrity. That is the route to take if the lesson of 2016 is that the best route to political success is to copy the [Sleezebag] model — that all publicity is good publicity, shame is passé, and thinking through how you might govern before you rouse passions is for losers.

Of course, it’s possible Rubio already learned his lesson about attempting this, having tried to beat [Sleezebag] at his own insult game in the last month, only to overstep and have it backfire.

Another interpretation of Rubio’s humiliation is that voters just decided he needed to slow down and grow up a little, or maybe more than a little. He’s been in a hurry his entire adult life, and his impatience to get to the next level of political power has led Rubio to leave friends and allies in the dust. Many of the pre-defeat obituaries on Rubio’s career during the last week suggested that he had forgotten where he came from.

“I don’t think the lesson here is that he wasn’t Donald [Sleezebag],” said Alex Castellanos, a Cuban-born Republican operative who has advised numerous presidential candidates. “The lesson for him is, one, that it wasn’t his time. And that in an uncertain moment, people wanted strength and experience.

“If he goes out into the real world and enjoys business success or becomes governor and actually runs something, that would position him for success,” said Castellanos.

Rubio was told by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and by 2008 GOP nominee Sen. John McCain to wait his turn. And Rubio mocked that advice often on the campaign trail.

“This is not a time for waiting,” Rubio said. He continued to ridicule “elites” in his concession speech Tuesday.

“There are millions of people in this country that are tired of being looked down upon. Tired of being told by these self-proclaimed elitists that they don’t know what they are talking about and they need to instead listen to the so-called smart people,” Rubio said.

“I’ve battled my whole life against the so-called elites, the people who think that, you know, I needed to wait my turn or wait in line or it wasn’t our chance or wasn’t our time. So, I understand all of these frustrations,” he said.

But the voters spoke loud and clear. Out of 32 primaries and caucuses, Rubio won only three. And a longtime associate of Rubio’s said Tuesday as the polls were closing that there are some hard truths in that fact.

“He can’t try to please everyone,” said Al Cardenas, a longtime fixture in Florida Republican politics who brought a young Rubio into his law firm in the mid-’90s.

Cardenas pointed to the 2013 immigration fight as one of the most damaging periods in Rubio’s career, not because he backed a comprehensive bill, but because he cut and ran, leaving others in the lurch. As I wrote with Andrew Romano a year ago, Rubio panicked.

“He was a proud promoter of that bill. He enlisted myself and a number of other leaders to get behind him, put their political capital on the table,” Cardenas told me over a patchy phone line late Tuesday. “And you can’t just leave by yourself and leave everybody else behind and to their own devices.

“People don’t mind going down fighting, but they do mind going down fighting without the fellow who brought them to the dance to begin with,” Cardenas said.

Going forward, Cardenas said, Rubio “needs to stand his ground on issues of importance more often, although there is a short-term price to be paid.”



Rubio gets a hug from his family after a primary night rally Tuesday in Miami. (Photo: Angel Valentin/Getty Images)


In addition, Rubio developed a reputation over the years for giving short shrift to the hard work of legislating, another sign of his impatience. Cardenas also said this hurt Rubio’s ability to win over voters in his home state.

“He’s got to work harder at a larger group of dependable supporters on the electorate side, not just the donor base. That takes a lot of hard work, collegiality, and it takes showing up,” Cardenas said.

The challenge in all this for Rubio is that he has not settled on a political identity. He has dabbled here and flitted there, leaving voters with the impression he lacks a true center.

In his speech Tuesday, Rubio hit some of the notes that are part of his core message. At the heart of it was an attempt to give fuller voice to the frustrations of everyday Americans, but moving from that place of empathy to a place of hope.

“America is in the middle of a real political storm, a real tsunami. And, we should have seen this coming. Look, people are angry, and people are very frustrated,” he said.

“I know that we are living through this extraordinary economic transformation that is really disruptive in people’s lives. Machines are replacing them, their pay is not enough. I know it’s disruptive. But I also know this new economy has incredible opportunity,” he said.

Rubio seemed to sense that he had not worked hard enough to voice the frustrations of many American voters. Any politician who hopes to inspire anguished voters must first of all convince them that he understands them, and that he hears them.

His appeal to optimism summoned the nation’s history and heritage.

“We are the descendants of pilgrims. We are the descendants of settlers. We are the descendants of men and women that headed westward in the Great Plains not knowing what awaited them,” Rubio said. “We are the descendants of slaves who overcame that horrible institution to stake their claim in the American Dream. We are the descendants of immigrants and exiles who knew and believed that they were destined for more, and that there was only one place on Earth where that was possible.

“This is who we are, and let us fight to ensure that this is who we remain. For if we lose that about our country, we will still be rich and we will still be powerful, but we will no longer be special,” he said.

These were just the first soundings of any coherent message Rubio might attempt to reimagine.

Defeats and setbacks lead to times of reflection, and Rubio will now have plenty of time for that. He can use it to engage in political calculus and strategy. Or he can look inward, acknowledge his weaknesses as a candidate and as a person, and by so doing, begin the process of overcoming them.

At the conclusion of his speech Tuesday, Rubio said: “I will continue every single day to search for ways for me to repay some of this extraordinary debt that I owe this great country.”

https://www.yahoo.com/politics/whats-next-for-marco-rubio-032224287.html


As I already said, you could have a real future, Senator; you impress.  But it was never about waiting your turn, but about not coming to me, hat in hand, asking for my vote for you to be president before you've gained non-pathetic levels of experience and qualification for the job.  Pull a hitch as governor of a state, and at least grab up an open House seat afterwards and do the job for the entire term.  Don't come back until you've done at least that much, young man, and stop wasting everyone's time.  [slams door in face]

[Buster's Uncle]

Sorry Rusty...

A big night for Clinton, as she sweeps all five states
Yahoo Politics
Hunter Walker and Liz Goodwin  March 15, 2016



WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Tuesday was always supposed to be one of the most important nights in the Democratic presidential primary race, but for Hillary Clinton, it was even bigger than she and her team expected.

Clinton swept the night, winning Ohio, Florida, Illinois, North Carolina, and maintaining a narrow lead in Missouri, which is so close that the losing candidates are allowed to request a recount. The victories put her firmly on course to defeat her primary rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who had hoped to upset her in at least one of those Midwestern states. As the results were announced on Tuesday evening, Clinton took the stage before a boisterous crowd of supporters here and seemed to pivot toward the Republican frontrunner, Donald T rump, who also won in Florida.

“We are moving closer to securing the Democratic Party nomination and winning this election in November!” Clinton declared.

Clinton came into the presidential race as the overwhelming frontrunner for her party’s nomination. After faltering in the early states, she began to pull ahead, with a massive victory in South Carolina on Feb. 27. She followed that win with a string of victories on Super Tuesday, March 1. Those wins had a campaign source predicting to Yahoo News that Clinton’s delegate lead over Sanders would be “effectively insurmountable” once this evening’s votes were counted. Sanders’ team also knew this evening’s numbers would be crucial, and in early strategy sessions, they cited March 15 as a turning point, after which they would know whether or not his underdog bid was truly viable.

It looked as if Sanders might prove the Clinton campaign’s bullish prediction wrong after he won a stunning upset in Michigan on March 8, but Clinton’s victories on Tuesday helped her stop Sanders’ momentum and establish a seemingly unbeatable lead.

Though Clinton was expected to win the primaries in North Carolina and Florida on Tuesday, polls showed her potentially losing in Ohio, Arizona, Missouri and Illinois. Even if Sanders had won all of the states that were in play on Tuesday, he would still have faced an uphill battle. However, by taking Ohio and Illinois, Clinton definitively pulled ahead.



Hillary Clinton greets supporters at the Palm Beach County Convention Center after winning the Ohio, Florida and North Carolina primaries on Tuesday. (Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)


Though the results in Arizona, Missouri and Illinois still had not been projected at the time she spoke, Clinton pointed out that her trio of victories had allowed her campaign to “add to our delegate lead to roughly 300.”

“I’ll tell you, this is another Super Tuesday!” Clinton said.

Her lead only grew as the night wore on.

After congratulating Sanders “for the vigorous campaign he’s waging,” Clinton turned to T rump, framing the election as “one of the most consequential campaigns of our lifetimes.” She specifically criticized several key aspects of his platform, including his positions on immigration and waterboarding.

“When we hear a candidate for president call for rounding up 12 million immigrants, banning all Muslims from entering the United States, and he embraces torture, that doesn’t make him strong, it makes him wrong!” Clinton said. “We should be breaking down barriers, not building walls.”

Clinton went on to directly invoke T rump and take a shot at his campaign slogan, “Make American Great Again.”

“To be great, we can’t be small, we can’t lose what made America great in the first place,“ said Clinton, adding, “And this isn’t just about Donald T rump, all of us have to do our part.”

Sanders took the stage shortly after Clinton’s appearance in Florida and addressed more than 7,000 of his cheering supporters in a convention center in Phoenix with his usual stump speech. The 74-year-old senator mentioned raising the minimum wage, getting money out of politics, fixing free trade deals and reforming the criminal justice system, among other typical stump-speech issues.

What Sanders didn’t mention were the five states that voted in the Democratic primaries Tuesday night, and what the results meant for his viability as a candidate. This was in contrast to Sanders’ election night appearance on Super Tuesday, when he explicitly downplayed his mixed showing and reassured his supporters that he would take the fight to “every” state. In contrast with most election night gatherings, there were no TVs showing primary results in Phoenix, so Sanders’ supporters were not shown Clinton’s wins racking up in the background as the evening progressed. Arizona’s Democrats vote next Tuesday, and Sanders is expected to do well in the state.

“The reason we have done as well as we have, the reason we have defied all expectations, is that we are doing something very radical in American politics: We are telling the truth!” Sanders said. No major cable network carried his speech, which coincided with Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s remarks and later, as Sanders continued speaking, with Donald T rump’s victory speech. The senator urged Arizonans to show up at the polls for him next week at the end of his address.



Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks at a campaign rally in Phoenix. (Photo: Nancy Wiechec/Reuters)


Sanders’ top advisers have stressed that the senator will continue his well-funded campaign until the end of the primaries, and last week’s surprise win in Michigan appeared to breathe new life into Sanders’ bid. But Clinton’s sweep significantly dims his chances of becoming the Democratic nominee. Sanders had hammered Clinton on her past support for free-trade deals, but she still pulled out a win in Ohio and Illinois.

Sanders’ top aides did not come out to speak to reporters at his event in Phoenix. However, in Florida, the Clinton campaign’s communications director, Jen Palmieri, took questions shortly after Clinton’s speech. Palmieri noted she had just “bid farewell to a very happy Hillary Clinton.” Palmieri also said Clinton and Sanders had not yet spoken to each other.

Palmieri spoke before results were announced in Illinois and Missouri. She acknowledged those states would be “close” and could go either way, but argued that the night still sent a decisive message.

“Sen. Sanders spent over $7 million in the last week running pretty negative ads … stepped up rhetoric attacking Hillary Clinton,” Palmieri said. “I think the results today prove that approach is rejected by the voters. They’re looking for someone who is offering solutions, particularly on the economy, not just talking about the problem.”

Palmieri also addressed the fact that several of the upcoming contests in the Democratic primary, particularly in states that hold caucuses, could favor Sanders. Still, Palmieri pointed to Clinton’s steadily increasing lead.

“Our delegate lead is very high, I would say, so we understand that there are a lot of contests … that we have yet to face, and we will face them, but … it’s going to be very hard to overtake her,” Palmieri said, adding, “And I think that the results tonight, even if there are contests that we don’t do well in, will continue to speak for themselves.“

Though Palmieri expressed confidence that Clinton will secure the nomination, she repeatedly stressed that the campaign remains “focused” on the Democratic primary rather than the general election. Multiple reporters asked if Clinton or her allies would begin pressuring Sanders to drop out. Palmieri deflected the question several times by saying it was not “up to” Clinton’s staff to make that decision.



Clinton supporters cheer as results come in during an election night event at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Fla. (Photo: Carolyn Kaster/AP)


“When she ran against President Obama in 2008, she stayed in till the end,” Palmieri said of Clinton, adding, “She said that she would never call on someone to drop out. … That’s not up to us.”

Palmieri also strenuously denied that Clinton was making a pivot to campaigning against T rump, even though the Republican frontrunner was named in her speech.

“I’m going to let the speech speak for itself, but I wouldn’t assume that those comments were directed at any particular one candidate,” Palmieri said.

https://www.yahoo.com/politics/a-big-night-for-clinton-as-she-wins-ohio-florida-013801150.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Rubio's daughter?

Even prettier than he is, it appears...

[Buster's Uncle]

Mitch McConnell: Majority Leader Says Senate Won't Consider Supreme Court Nominee Until After Election

"The American people should have a say in the court's direction," McConnell said on the Senate floor Wednesday, responding to President Obama's nomination of Merrick Garland as the new justice.

---

The American people DID have a say, moron.

One more time:

[Unorthodox]

First campaign commercial in Utah...

Guess Who. 

[Buster's Uncle]

Mitch McConnell?

[Unorthodox]

So dumb question from someone who's never done the whole preliminary thing before (it's normally decided by the time we get to Utah):

What happens to delegates after a candidate drops out?  (determine whether I would vote for the one I like most or the one best suited to beat [Sleezebag])
What is the purpose/consequence of registering as a party?  (I'm presently registered independent, but the reps don't let anyone but reps vote) 


Bernie is first out the gate with commercials.  I'm actually a bit surprised, I don't think any democratic presidential candidate has ever spent money in Utah.