US Presidential Contenders

[Rusty Edge]

Yeah. Me and the Mrs. were running errands together today and discussing it.

That's where we are- voting Cruz to stop The Leader. If it comes down to Cruz-Clinton that's still a Gozer the Gozarian "choose the form of the destructor" choice, with Clinton the possible Lesser of Two Evils.

I don't trust Clinton because she's so insincere. I don't Trust Ted because he's so shrewd. Well that and his Trusted/ Trust Ted logo. It's as bad as The Leader saying "trust me" and "believe me" all of the time. Any stranger who tells you to trust them rather than asks for the opportunity to earn it really shouldn't be trusted.
Then there's the matter of all of his colleagues refusing to endorse him because he has a history of throwing them under the bus.

I was going to say something about The Leader, about how my wife's analysis concludes he's a liar. About how mine concludes he's an egomaniac.  ( insert we can both be right comment here )

But I'm thinking it's a pretty sad day when I'd rather have a socialist nominate the future Supreme Court Justices than either party's frontrunner or the guy I'm about to vote for in the Republican Primary.
Sure, Cruz has some religious principles, but the problem is that he gets confused about the whole rendering unto Caesar thing/ establishment clause of the 1st Amendment.

[Rusty Edge]

It's also a sad day when the Automobile brand Rambler is no more, because they should come out with a special "RAMBLER [Sleezebag]" model IN HIS HONOR.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2016/03/21/a-transcript-of-donald-trumps-meeting-with-the-washington-post-editorial-board/?postshare=6161459055362471&tid=ss_fb

Early onset Alzheimer's ?
Attention Deficit Disorder?
You Decide!

[Rusty Edge]

I early voted for Cruz today, because Wisconsin is a winner take all delegates deal. It's the best chance to thwart The Leader.

I've been wondering about the strong anti-[Sleezebag] sentiment hereabouts.

I've concluded that it goes back to the best predictor of a [Sleezebag] supporter- those who feel they don't have a political voice. Well here, you get to express yourself. Primaries are open, elections can be held more than spring and fall. They don't flinch at special elections. We had the gubernatorial recall. We have various radio talk shows. It's a purple state. It's pretty hard to be oblivious and indifferent here. Somebody shares your opinion.

[Buster's Uncle]

How are you coping with the nausea?

[Rusty Edge]

So far, Cruz is hitting us pretty hard, but any calls that get through can be added to our robocaller zaplist.

Sure, The Shrew and the guys are around, but Obama has been here so often in previous years that we simply learn to avoid the areas they are appearing in, and fortunately we aren't flying at this time.

Oh! Heidi Cruz has been around for a while talking to small groups. According to the local tv reporters, she simply speaks from the heart extemporaneously, and everybody seems to like her.

Got a hit piece on The Leader in the mail, which cited references.

They are set up for early voting as if it were already election day, but it's only at the local city hall. Still it's set to handle about 5X as many voters as I've ever seen.

As for TV, nothing like when I was in Charleston....yet.  Just saw the map of downtown street closures for the debate. Just saw a local poll- it's getting really tight. I didn't hear a margin of error, but I'd guess it's statistically a 3 way tie.


[Sleezebag] called into Wisconsin's most popular conservative talk radio host, not knowing he was #NEVERTRUMP. When the host, Charlie Sykes, immediately called him out on the lack of presidential comportment in tweeting about Mrs. Cruz, he said he was retaliating, when pressed about whether it would be fair to hold Mrs. [Sleezebag]  accountable for anything his supporters did or said, he asked to talk about the issues. First Sykes asked him about all of the negative things he said about Wisconsin when retaliating against Scott Walker, and whether he wanted to apologize. [Sleezebag] weaseled and said it was straight out of Time magazine. He'd apologize for reading it after they apologized for printing it.

When they addressed a national issue, Sykes politely pointed out that [Sleezebag] failed to answer the question. That's the way it went... typical [Sleezebag] responses, except  he was getting called out on them, the way I would expect the press to do.

Gee, Walker won 3 elections here in 4 years, don't you think that would give [Sleezebag]'s crew of "Top people" a clue about Wisconsin Republicans and issues? Well, maybe The Leader's  People aren't the experts he purports them to be.

[Buster's Uncle]

The article I read about that radio interview indicated that he totally FRIED the Pig.

-Which IS how you cook bacon, after all...

[Unorthodox]

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-obama-idUSKCN0WV03X

President Barack Obama on Monday laid some of the blame for the tone of the presidential campaign on political journalism that has been pinched by shrinking newsroom budgets and cheapened by a focus on retweets and likes on social media.

In a speech to a journalism awards dinner, Obama urged journalists to ask tougher questions of the candidates vying to be president. He voiced dismay over the vulgar rhetoric, violence at rallies and unrealistic campaign pledges that have continually grabbed headlines, in a thinly veiled reference to Republican front-runner Donald [Sleezebag].

"The number one question I'm getting as I travel around the world or talk to world leaders right now is, 'What is happening in America?' about our politics," Obama said, describing international alarm over whether the United States will continue to function effectively.



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"It's not because around the world people have not seen crazy politics. It is that they understand America is the place where you can't afford completely crazy politics," he said.
 
"When our elected officials and our political campaigns become entirely untethered to reason and facts and analysis, when it doesn't matter what's true and what's not, that makes it all but impossible for us to make good decisions on behalf of future generations," Obama said.

He said the media landscape has changed since his first presidential campaign in 2008, when "there was a price if you said one thing and then did something completely different.
 
"The question is, in the current media environment, is that still true? Does that still hold?" he said.

He said news organizations have a responsibility to dig deeper despite the faster pace of "this smartphone age" and steep financial pressures in the news business.
 
Voters "would be better served if billions of dollars in free media came with serious accountability, especially when politicians issue unworkable plans or make promises they can't keep," Obama said.

The New York Times earlier this month reported that [Sleezebag] has so far earned almost $1.9 billion worth of media coverage, compared with $313 million for the next closest Republican challenger, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, and $746 million for Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.


(Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Leslie Adler)

[Rusty Edge]

Thanks, Uno. It's nice to see some numbers behind my suspicions.

[Rusty Edge]

Local political episodes-

1)Just saw [Sleezebag] doubling down on his criticisms of Wisconsin. By the way, Forrest [Sleezebag], how did that approach work for you in Ohio? It was a double digit margin of defeat, as I recall.

2) Anti-[Sleezebag] protest outside the site of tonight's televised town hall meeting has grown from "about a hundred" to "300".

3) Gov. Walker endorsed Cruz today, as expected.

4) Sanders was calling on voters today to send Walker a message. Really? This is kind of like [Sleezebag] calling the state " a disaster". Not only did Walker win 3 elections in 4 years, but in between the opposition turned an election for state supreme court into a referendum on Walker and they lost that , too!  So now all 3 branches of state government are GOP controlled.

The problem Walker has is that rather than see things through and work to pass a budget, and in spite of his promises to the contrary during his re-election campaign- he turned his inauguration speech in to a presidential campaign kick-off in all but name ( how many governors talk about Middle Eastern policy in their inaugural addresses? ) and left the state to make speeches around the country.

Want to send a message to Scott Walker in the primary? Use the Republican side of the ballot. Vote for The Leader, because Walker endorsed Cruz.

[Rusty Edge]

I AM SHOCKED!

Ted Cruz just said that The Constitution and The Bill of Rights protects Christians, Muslims, Jews and Atheists. I've previously heard nothing but Christianity and Religious Liberty from him with regard to The Constitution. I thought that was code for Christian establishment, but maybe it's merely about gay discrimination and oppression.

[Rusty Edge]

My wife and I had a disagreement as to whether Kasich has a pathway  to the GOP nomination.
She was citing the 8 state rule. I asked her whether she heard that from anybody beside Cruz, because it was a matter of self-interest for him. She said she heard it from Charlie Sykes, with regard to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan.

I had to look it up. The 8 state rule was instituted before the 2012 convention to thwart Ron Paul. So, no time honored tradition there, but for now, it's the standing rule. One that would have excluded party patriarch Abe Lincoln and more recently General Eisenhower, from getting the nomination. So there's room for ridicule, and more than a political fig leaf.

 The rules committee for this convention will meet after the delegates have been chosen, one man and one women from each state and territory. I have a feeling that a committee that's 50% women would not be concerned with protecting the feelings of The Leader, especially since T rump is trying to blame the lady reporter who got manhandled by his campaign manager tonight.

But even with the 8 state rule, by my count there are 16 states remaining and Kassich needs 7 more. Most of those are more favorable to Kasich than Cruz. So for Cruz to say Kasich has no path forward is self serving. Kasich's path is through an open or contested convention. Cruz's path is a hail Mary "I'm not T rump" outright win.

[Rusty Edge]

Opinion|Editorial | Wisconsin Primary

John Kasich, the GOP's best hope, can win and govern

After terrorists murdered 35 people in Brussels last week, Donald [Sleezebag] and Ted Cruz competed to see who could fashion an American police state response more quickly. [Sleezebag] demanded that the United States close its borders to Muslims and torture Muslim captives. Cruz suggested forebodingly that police patrols were needed to "secure Muslim neighborhoods."

And Ohio Gov. John Kasich? "One guy says we should patrol Muslim neighborhoods and the other says we should withdraw from NATO and have a religious test on who comes into the country? Do you think we're going to fix this problem with these approaches?" he asked during a meeting Tuesday with Journal Sentinel reporters and editors. "If you want to find out about the radicals inside of the Muslim community, you frankly have to ask a Muslim.

"We have to have communication between the civilized world — all of us together against these murderers. And that takes U.S. leadership."

Kasich had a smart, pragmatic answer. He is, in fact, the only thoughtful candidate with a fundamental belief in long-standing democratic principles who remains standing in the GOP primary field. The Editorial Board normally avoids recommendations for political office. But the Republican presidential campaign this year demands a stand: We recommend John Kasich in the Wisconsin Republican primary on April 5.

Kasich can win
The former congressman and businessman offers Republicans a platform of conservative ideas centered on fiscal responsibility while he offers independents the promise that he will surround himself with expert advisers from various perspectives as he makes informed, independent decisions.

To get the nomination, Kasich must win it on the floor of the Republican convention in July because he has no mathematical chance of winning outright before then. At 10 previously contested Republican conventions, he noted, the front-runner become the nominee only three times. "I don't know why we think the convention is disjointed somehow from the process. The convention is a natural evolution of the process," he said.

If no candidate succeeds in winning a majority beforehand, delegates at the convention will be looking for someone who can win in November. Kasich is the only GOP candidate who consistently outpolls Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton in a head-to-head matchup. He was up 6.5 percentage points on Clinton in the latest sounding taken by Real Clear Politics.

Cruz and his supporters are pushing Kasich to drop out of the race, arguing that he splits the anti-[Sleezebag] vote and can't win before the convention. But it's also unlikely that Cruz, who has virtually no administrative experience and is loathed by many in his party, could beat [Sleezebag] to a majority of delegates before July. Some polls show that [Sleezebag], not Cruz, is the second choice of Kasich supporters. And as the primary season heads to the East, Kasich has the better chance — pulling even within the margin of error to [Sleezebag] in the latest Pennsylvania poll.

What impresses us most about Kasich is his independence. Unlike Gov. Scott Walker in Wisconsin and most other Republican governors, Kasich decided to take the additional Medicaid funding that came as part of the Affordable Care Act. The decision meant an infusion of $13 billion for Ohio, which was irresistible for a politician focused on fiscal discipline even in the face of Republican opposition in the Ohio legislature and criticism from conservatives nationally.

"If we treat people in the prisons and they don't come back, we're saving money," he said. "I think it's immoral to have the mentally ill living under a bridge or living in prison."

And to his conservative critics: "If you've got a better idea, tell me what it is. I don't think it's good public policy, and I don't think it's morally right to ignore these folks."

Like his opponents, Kasich says he will work to repeal "and replace" Obamacare. His plan, about to be tested in Ohio, would focus on making medical system costs and quality-of-care information transparent and then rewarding systems that achieve higher quality with greater efficiency.

Kasich has repeatedly done what he thought was right for his state and changed course when he had to. Case in point: Kasich and Walker both were elected in 2011. Both signed bills to limit collective bargaining for public workers that year. But Ohio voters promptly overturned their law by a wide margin in a referendum that November. Kasich noted that "we got whupped" and quickly pivoted, finding ways to work with unions instead of crushing them.

On immigration, Kasich favors better southern border security to control the illegal flow of people but also favors a path to legal status for the 11 million undocumented immigrants now living within the law in the U.S., a far more humane and practical approach than either of his primary opponents. .

Kasich says he will bring fiscal discipline to the federal budget, which he promises to balance in eight years while cutting taxes, reducing regulation and returning duties and some money to the states, such as federal gas taxes for highways.

Kasich promises to rebuild the military through $102 billion of increased spending over eight years. We question whether Kasich can boost military spending that much while balancing the budget — when he was in Congress the last time the budget was balanced, the government was benefiting from a peace dividend after the fall of the Iron Curtain and before 9/11. All the Republicans are promising to raise military spending while cutting the deficit.

Kasich would take a more muscular approach to foreign policy but he wisely would rely on allies and close consultation with a broad range of advisers. To combat the Islamic State terrorist group, he calls for a collaborative strategy involving mutual defense by NATO and regional allies, better international collaboration on intelligence, the creation of safe havens and no-fly zones and a smarter propaganda war.

He says he would be willing to commit American ground forces to the battle against ISIS, in conjunction with allies in the region. His template: the first Gulf War — when overwhelming force and a broad coalition including Arab states forged a winning strategy.

Kasich also favors a tough approach to both Russia and China, including working with European allies to strengthen nations that are on the front lines with the Russians. He would strengthen the U.S. military footprint in the Asia-Pacific region.

A pragmatic conservative

Kasich's comments after Brussels were telling. He focused on pragmatism — on building a stronger intelligence network to stop terrorism. That requires better relations with the mainstream Muslim community in the U.S. and abroad.

NATO member states will have to dramatically improve their capability to share intelligence, he believes. And Kasich envisions a more vigorous NATO that has both intelligence-gathering and policing roles. Information — and not only bombs and missiles — is the key to defeating the terrorists, Kasich argues, a point that he alone among the remaining GOP contenders seems to understand.

Most important, Kasich appears to be the only Republican left in the race who actually could govern if he does win. [Sleezebag] is [Sleezebag] — vacuous, unqualified and dangerously ignorant of foreign affairs. Cruz is brilliant but unable to escape the twin straitjackets of ideology and ambition. The author of the futile 16-day government shutdown in 2013 over Obamacare, he also conducted a 21-hour filibuster designed to do one thing: burnish the image of Ted Cruz with tea party conservatives. A team player, he is not.

Republicans and independents who value leadership, dignity, pragmatism and experience should vote for John Kasich next Tuesday.

[Buster's Uncle]

As you all know, I pointedly avoid posting stories about the worst of the trash running for President -for all that it's way too late, I choose not to contribute to the problem- but I find this account credible; worth a look.
https://www.yahoo.com/politics/former-T rump-super-pac-director-1395626161225782.html

[Rusty Edge]

Today's happenings-
1) More violence outside [Sleezebag] Rallies. This time a (15?) year old girl protesting got her breast groped, when she swore at and swung at the man, another Trumper pepper sprayed her face. Police are after both men.

2) The big news of the day was The Leader talking about punishing women who get abortions in the future when abortions are outlawed. He said that was a conservative view. There was quite an uproar from both ends of the spectrum, so much so that [Sleezebag] made a retraction statement before the town meeting even aired on MSNBC.   What a perfect follow up to the "rape pregnancies are a gift from God" mill stone the GOP field had around their neck last presidential election.

3) The 3 remaining GOP candidates are hedging, if not waffling on their "I will support the eventual nominee of the Republican Party" pledge which they made at the first debate, when many doubted whether [Sleezebag] were really a Republican. [Sleezebag] because he thinks he's being treated unfairly, Cruz because [Sleezebag] treated Cruz's wife badly, and Kasich because of his concerns for the future of the party.

4) Today's Marquette Law School poll ( this is the standard in Wisconsin politics ) Gave Cruz a double digit lead, with [Sleezebag] second, and Kasich a strong third. This was before [Sleezebag] called into the Charlie Sykes Show and got fried, before [Sleezebag] did his best to convince people that he shouldn't be trusted with nuclear weapons, and before he blamed the Brietbart lady reporter for getting manhandled. So we can only imagine it will get worse for him.

5) Today there ws backlash with regard to [Sleezebag]'s ridicule of Wisconsin under Walker's hard won reforms. What he did was basically repeat old Democratic gubernatorial campaign smears, which are out dated. The state has a balanced budget, and is one of a few to have pension obligations fully funded.

[Rusty Edge]

From where I sit, this looks like peak [Sleezebag]. Weighed. Measured. Found wanting.

His disapproval among women is in the 70%s. He is doubling down on manhandling the lady reporter from a pro-[Sleezebag] news group, even though the Secret Service didn't think she was a threat. He is talking about punishment for women who get abortions. My wife is convinced [Sleezebag] is trying hard for 100% disapproval. More [Sleezebag]'s own words on women ads to follow.

Couple that with careless comments about nuclear weapons. Such as- he thinks they are the greatest threat, and he is against proliferation, but he thinks more countries should get them so that we won't have to defend them any more, and he won't take using them in Europe off of the table. I can envision a re-occurrence of the Lyndon Johnson's little girl with a daisy/nuclear missile countdown ads should The Leader become the GOP presidential nominee, with similar results: Democratic landslide!

I predicted [Sleezebag] would secure the nomination outright before the convention. I think I was  wrong. I also think [Sleezebag] will have a hard time getting favorable rules from a committee which is 50% women by bylaw.