US Election: 2016

[CougarKing]

So far the candidates that have announced / will announce within the next few days are going to pull the GOP primaries so far to the right you can see Sarah Palin's neighbors across the water.

What's your opinions on Lindsey Graham or Ben Carson?

Foreign Policy

Lindsey Graham al-Most Knows Arabic[/b]

"Everything that starts with ‘al’ in the Middle East is bad news,” hawkish Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a probable presidential hopeful, told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee at a Boston dinner this week. “Al Qaeda, al-Nusra, al Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula.”

The comment made no sense, the Internet was quick to point out, because “al” is an Arabic definite article analogous to the English word “the.” A number of English words with Arabic roots begin with “al”: albatross, alchemy, alcohol, alcove, alfalfa, algebra, algorithm, and others.

Knowledge of Arabic won’t necessarily score points with core Republican constituents in early primary states, whom Graham will have to win over if he wants to stand out from the growing group of contenders. Six Republicans have announced their candidacies, and at least seven more will probably join them. But as a leading hawk and an ardent supporter of Israel, Graham likely will need to rely on his outspoken foreign-policy positions to differentiate himself from other long-shot contenders, some of whom have relatively little credibility abroad.

Pediatric neurosurgeon Ben Carson, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, all of whom announced their candidacies this week, have varying views on record. They range from Huckabee’s erroneous comments on Pakistan and admission of ignorance on Iran in the run-up to his 2008 presidential campaign, to Carson’s recent endorsement of war crimes. (“If you’re gonna have rules for war, you should just have a rule that says no war,” he said. “Other than that, we have to win.”)

(...EDITED)

 

[Kirkhill]

So far the candidates that have announced / will announce within the next few days are going to pull the GOP primaries so far to the right you can see Sarah Palin's neighbors across the water.

Guess they`re not moving too far then.

Satellite photo of the Bering Strait, with the Diomede Islands at center (Wiki)

The islands are separated by an international border, which is also part of the International Date Line, approximately 2 km (1 mi) from each island, at 168°58'37"W. At their closest points, the two islands are about 3.8 km (2.4 mi) apart. The small habitation on Little Diomede Island is centered on the west side of the island at the village of Diomede.

The Big Diomede Island is considered the easternmost point of Russia.

The Diomede Islands are often mentioned as likely intermediate stops for the hypothetical bridge or tunnel (Bering Strait crossing) spanning the Bering Strait.[2]

During winter, an ice bridge usually spans the distance between these two islands; therefore during such times it is possible (although not legal) to walk between the United States and Russia.

Distance from Washington to Moscow: infinite
Distance from USA to Russia: Sarah is right.

 

[cupper]

What's your opinions on Lindsey Graham or Ben Carson?

Graham was a capable senator before the GOP shifted were dragged to the far right. Like so many other center right GOP members of Congress, he was forced to move further away from the center lest he be primaried. As a presidential candidate, I don't think he has the recognition outside the beltway, except as John McCain's illegitimate son. I don't think he is destined to move into 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. But that's not to say he shouldn't stick around inside the Beltway. Like Elizabeth Warren on the Dem side I think his time and effort would be better spent sitting in the Senate. As long as they can move back to the days where bipartisan compromise was not a traitorous act.

Carson is just another on the list of also rans. His personal beliefs (unless his bat poop comments are just pandering) won't sell outside the religious / social conservatives. He's already had to backtrack on the homosexuality is a choice meme with the comments about straight prisoners choosing to be homosexual in prison. From some of the interviews I've seen, he can tend to be abrasive when pressed or challenged on issues that flow against the mainstream public.

 

[cupper]

Guess they`re not moving too far then.

Satellite photo of the Bering Strait, with the Diomede Islands at center (Wiki)

Distance from Washington to Moscow: infinite
Distance from USA to Russia: Sarah is right.

Nice, 

What I was going for was that when you move to far in one direction on the political spectrum, you run the risk of coming full Mobius Strip.  ;D

 

[cupper]

Carson is just another on the list of also rans. His personal beliefs (unless his bat poop comments are just pandering) won't sell outside the religious / social conservatives. He's already had to backtrack on the homosexuality is a choice meme with the comments about straight prisoners choosing to be homosexual in prison. From some of the interviews I've seen, he can tend to be abrasive when pressed or challenged on issues that flow against the mainstream public.

And this is another reason why Ben Carson isn't going to go far out of the gate. His basic understanding of the US Constitution leaves a lot to be desired.

Ben Carson: Federal Government Doesn't Need To Recognize Gay Marriage SCOTUS Ruling

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/ben-carson-federal-government-doesnt-need-recognize-gay-marriage-scotus-ruling

Yesterday on Newsmax TV, Ben Carson said that the federal government does not need to recognize a Supreme Court decision on gay marriage because the president is only obligated to recognize laws passed by Congress, not judicial rulings.

“First of all, we have to understand how the Constitution works, the president is required to carry out the laws of the land, the laws of the land come from the legislative branch,” Carson said. “So if the legislative branch creates a law or changes a law, the executive branch has a responsibly to carry it out. It doesn’t say they have the responsibility to carry out a judicial law.”

He also added that members of the judiciary should have term limits in order to “adjust with the times.”

Carson, who announced his campaign for president on Monday, has previously floated the idea of impeaching judges who back marriage equality.

 

[CougarKing]

Marco Rubio throws his hat into the ring as well?

Politico

Marco Rubio: I’m ready to become commander in chief

By MICHAEL CROWLEY and KATIE GLUECK 5/13/15 3:43 PM EDT Updated 5/14/15 11:26 AM EDT
In a Wednesday foreign policy address, Marco Rubio staked a claim to being the Republican presidential field’s toughest — and most qualified — candidate on national security, capping a four-year effort to cultivate expertise in an area of top concern for GOP voters.
In a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations, Rubio alleged that President Barack Obama has flinched from a dangerous world and argued for “American strength [as] a means of preventing war, not promoting it.”

(...SNIPPED)

Foreign Policy

Marco Rubio Is No Jack Kennedy – and We Don’t Need One, Either
Why America is better off without a “pay any price, bear any burden” president.

Marco Rubio, the Republican presidential hopeful from Florida, opened his remarks to the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) earlier this week by quoting from the last speech President John F. Kennedy gave before his assassination. Kennedy had insisted that by making America stronger he had advanced the cause of world peace. By contrast, Rubio observed, President Barack Obama had entered office believing that “America was too hard on our adversaries,” and that the world would benefit if “America took a step back.”

It was a deft bit of oratory. Kennedy, after all, was, like the 43-year-old Rubio, young, brash, optimistic — and a member of the U.S. Senate. Citing a Democrat allowed Rubio to imply to CFR, a nonpartisan body whose centrist internationalism constitutes a heresy for Republican ideologues, that he represents an older, bipartisan tradition. Republican presidential candidates don’t go to CFR to win votes, after all, but to acquire a sheen of elite legitimacy. The boyish Rubio knows he needs that.

(...SNIPPED)

 

[a_majoor]

If this is what the Democrats truly represent, then the next election is goig to be very ugly indeed:

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/05/31/mattress-girl-and-pajama-boy/

MATTRESS GIRL AND PAJAMA BOY
by PETER ALBERICE31 May 201518

In the neighborhood where I lived growing up, many of the fathers were working class veterans who were supporters of Franklin Roosevelt and later Harry Truman.

The Truman Democrats were part of the great wave of post-war Americans who worked hard, supported their families, and provided a better life for their children than the life they experienced during the Great Depression.

With the election of John Kennedy, one could argue that the Democratic Party believed that the United States was a great nation and a beacon of hope for the entire world. Under JFK, the economy grew to the benefit of all through across-the-board tax cuts. We as a nation took an unambiguous stance in understanding the threat of Communism and supported our allies in resisting that threat. We embarked on the space program which has yielded immense benefit to all of us with advances in manufacturing, computer science and medical technology.

Lyndon Johnson began the transformation of the Democratic Party of Harry Truman and John Kennedy. With the advent of the Great Society, LBJ created the dependency plantation that has undoubtedly created a multi-generational underclass. The result of this effort is the perpetual poverty that plagues many inner city neighborhoods and rural areas in our country. Jimmy Carter continued the decline by his lack of fortitude in understanding the ongoing threat of the Soviet Union and the rise of Islamic Fascism.

Bill Clinton was a successful president in many ways because he had to pivot after his first term and work with Congress in order to pass welfare reform and other pieces of legislation. He also benefited greatly from the collapse of the Soviet Empire and the window of relative peace the world experienced through most of the 1990s. Clinton, however, pushed for greater home ownership for under-qualified buyers, which ultimately led to the 2008 financial crisis. The rise of single-issue politics as opposed to the broader world view of Truman and Kennedy began to redefine the Democratic Party.

Barack Obama was elected in 2008 partly because the country wanted new ideas and felt it was time to elect a minority candidate as president. For the first two years of his administration, all of the progressive ideas that were a result of the emphasis on single issues rather than an integrated understanding of the dynamics of a capitalist economy and a constitutional form of government drove the Democratic Party agenda.

Under Obama, divisiveness and the politics of envy overrode the unity and a sense of purpose under JFK that the party once stood for. “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country” has been replaced by “You didn’t build that.”

“My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man” has become “leading from behind.”

The Democratic Party will continue to champion divisiveness through single-issue political infighting, a failed progressive economic agenda, and an almost nonexistent foreign policy. The party that once stood with our allies abroad and supported robust economic growth has been replaced by whiny radical feminism and an overwrought sense of entitlement.

Mattress Girl and Pajama Boy are the new Democratic Party; Truman and Kennedy would be embarrassed.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Now this, from the "Democracy is a device that insures we shall be governed no better than we deserve" file ....

Think about all the things you look for in a presidential candidate: a solid economic plan. Maybe some foreign policy experience. And how about insatiable bloodlust and multiple rows of serrated teeth?

As it turns out, the shark from the Jaws movies has better favorability numbers than any politician included in the latest Washington Post-ABC News survey. Ditto for The Terminator. Same for Darth Vader ....

 

[cavalryman]

I'd vote for Darth Vader  :Jedi:

 

[cupper]

I feel bad for Marco Rubio. He doesn't have any rating, positive or negative. Marco Who? ;D

 

[a_majoor]

Given the ever growing unreliability of polls and polling, I would not hold my breath until we see the actual vote count. This includes the primaries.

 

[cupper]

The Dems are suffering from primary syndrome just like the GOP did in 2012 and 2014, this over support for fast tracking free trade agreements.

http://www.democracyforamerica.com/blog/896-breaking-dfa-warns-dems-vote-fast-track-amp-we-will-search-for-opportunities-to-primary-you

Ahead of today's votes on the Medicare-cutting Trade Adjustment Assistance Legislation and Fast Track bill, Democracy for America wanted to lay out the stakes for those Democrats still contemplating voting for it.

Statement from Jim Dean, Chair of Democracy for America to members of Congress about today's votes:

"Ahead of today's votes we wanted to be very clear to Democratic members of Congress:  If you vote for either Medicare-cutting Trade Adjustment Assistance legislation or Fast Track Authority for the job-killing Trans-Pacific Partnership, we will not lift a finger or raise a penny to protect you when you're attacked in 2016, we will encourage our progressive allies to join us in leaving you to rot, and we will actively search for opportunities to primary you with a real Democrat.

"Those primaries could happen next year or they could happen in election cycles to come, but, make no mistake, today's vote to cut Medicare and fast track the destruction of American jobs will be remembered and will either haunt you or make you a hero." -- Jim Dean, Chair, Democracy for America

Like many others, DFA's members  have literally been battling Fast Track for the TPP for years -- so this isn't a statement we make lightly...

I'll also note, since our founding in 2004, DFA's one million members have raised and contributed more than $32.7 million and made more than 10.1 million volunteer calls to help successfully elect 831 progressive candidates nationwide.

And Pelosi isn't helping the matter:

How Pelosi broke with Obama
Her final-hour move against the president’s trade agenda marks a low point in a relationship that produced his biggest achievements.

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/06/how-pelosi-broke-with-obama-118961.html?hp=t1_r

It had come to this: Nancy Pelosi needed John Boehner to help save her party and her president from an ugly public meltdown.
By Friday morning, it was clear that a crucial piece of Barack Obama’s trade initiative was barreling toward defeat. Democrats were disjointed, dispirited, even angry in some cases. At the same time, they knew that they – not Republicans – would shoulder much of the blame for killing the president’s top legislative priority and for the ensuing spectacle of a party at war.

So just before noon, with debate already underway on the House floor, Pelosi picked up the phone and called Boehner to inform him that a must-pass component of the White House trade package was going to fail. It was the second such warning from Pelosi to Boehner in two days.

“Are you still going ahead?” Pelosi asked him, according to sources familiar with the call. “Are you going to pull the bill?”
No, he wasn’t, Boehner replied. This was his best chance to push fast-track trade authority across his unpredictable House floor, he told Pelosi.

Hours later, the House resoundingly defeated Trade Adjustment Assistance, a federal aid program to help workers who lose their jobs to free trade. The vote effectively scuttled Obama’s bid for fast-track trade authority – though Republicans may try to revive it in the coming days or weeks – because it was conditioned on approval of the jobs bill.

Pelosi was a minor player for much of Obama’s push to secure authority to clinch the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-nation pact that would be the largest free-trade deal in history. But as the vote neared, and major Democratic opposition bubbled to the surface, she was in a wrenching position: naturally inclined to deliver for a president she’s worked hand-in-glove with for years, but all-too-aware of the strong progressive winds within her caucus against a deal Democrats believe would jilt American workers.

Up until moments before Friday’s vote, Pelosi hadn’t told a soul how she was going to vote on TAA or Trade Promotion Authority, the fast-track trade law Obama was seeking.

And Hillary is taking flack for being non committal.

Progressives lash out at Clinton on trade
Despite racking up a win in the House on Friday, progressives condemn Hillary’s lack of leadership on the issue.

Liberals have a message for Hillary Clinton in the wake of Friday’s House vote on trade: Refusing to take a stand is worse than standing against us.

Anti-trade Democrats, including influential activists in early primary states, say that Clinton’s vague comments on the campaign trail about fast-track authority for the Trans-Pacific Partnership — a measure put in grave danger on Friday by a revolt among House Democrats — signal her silent support for the ambitious free trade expansion. What’s worse, they say, is that her strategic silence renews suspicions about her authenticity.

“If you really want to be a leader, you really ought to say where you are on an issue,” said Ken Sagar, president of the Iowa AFL -CIO.
“It was a missed opportunity,” said New York City mayor Bill de Blasio, the progressive leader who has declined to endorse Clinton several times despite running her 2000 Senate campaign.

Even as organized labor and progressives prevailed on Friday with House Democrats holding firm against pressure from the White House to approve a measure needed to seal the larger trade deal, condemnation of Clinton was still swift and sharp

“No one’s surprised. No one. No one. No one,” said New Hampshire liberal activist and radio host Arnie Arnesen. “The fact that she took no position is exactly what we expected … If you’re running only to be safe, then how can you lead? How can you lead? I don’t see leadership. I see fear.”

 

[cupper]

It will be interesting to see how the Supreme Court decisions upholding Obamacare and making same sex marriage legal in all 50 states plays out over the next 16 months (really, 16 months  :facepalm: ).

The conservative base is now up in arms, and if the GOP can keep that fire stoked, it may well be enough to counter the Dem get out the vote.

 

[Jed]

16 months of painfully watching a slow motion train wreck.

 

[tomahawk6]

There will be strong incentives to get a Republican President and replace Boehner and McConnell.A Republican President then can begin work on putting his stamp on the Supreme Court.

 

[a_majoor]

It will be interesting to see how the Supreme Court decisions upholding Obamacare and making same sex marriage legal in all 50 states plays out over the next 16 months (really, 16 months  :facepalm: ).

The conservative base is now up in arms, and if the GOP can keep that fire stoked, it may well be enough to counter the Dem get out the vote.

In a very important sense, these actions by the Supreme court essentially negate the idea of a Republican democracy in America. Evidently the plain language of legislation no longer matters, only what the SCOTUS decides it should mean. (the technical condition of people ruled over by the whims of others is "slaves").

While this has been an ongoing trend for many years (aided and abetted by a lazy Congress which writes sloppy legislation and allows the bureaucracy to do most of the work by creating regulations with the effect of laws), this won't be reversed even with a majority Republican Congress and President. Indeed, there may be an even worse impasse than the current gridlock (which is there by design, BTW, since the Founders were pretty clear they were against things being railroaded through the Congress, but rather wanted all ideas and opinions up for debate and reflection before action was taken), as the SCOTUS fights the Congress tooth and nail via court cases to strike down and redefine legislation in ways the Legislature never intended. If this sounds familiar, we just got there earlier via the "Charter".

 

[CougarKing]

Trouble brewing for the perceived frontrunners of both sides:

Reuters

Exclusive: Donald Trump's companies have sought visas to import at least 1,100 workers
Fri Jul 31, 2015 10:06pm EDT
US Presidential Candidate Donald Trump points as he stands outside his hotel

By Mica Rosenberg, Ryan McNeill, Megan Twohey and Michelle Conlin

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Donald Trump is staking his run for U.S. president in part on a vow to protect American jobs. But this month, one of his companies, the elite Mar-a-Lago Club resort in Florida, applied to import 70 foreign workers to serve as cooks, wait staff and cleaners.

A Reuters analysis of U.S. government data reveals that this is business as usual in the New York property magnate's empire.

Trump owns companies that have sought to import at least 1,100 foreign workers on temporary visas since 2000, according to U.S. Department of Labor data reviewed by Reuters. Most of the applications were approved, the data show.

(...SNIPPED)

Foreign Policy

New Emails From Clinton’s Private Server Contain Information on ‘Embassy Security Issues’

Hillary Clinton, the frontrunner for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, maintains that she did not send classified materials using a personal email account and an Internet server kept at her home in Chappaqua, New York. But a new batch of correspondence, released by the State Department Friday afternoon, shows that she and her aides did share sensitive information — including potential vulnerabilities in American diplomatic facilities overseas — over her private network.

Some 41 messages, dated between March and December of 2009, have large portions that have been redacted and labeled “B1,” for the Freedom of Information Act exemption allowing the government to withhold or redact documents in the interests of national defense or foreign policy. Some of the emails are redundant, meaning there are multiple versions of the same message being sent back and forth. One message in particular, dated September 21, 2009, stands out, because it deals with the very topic at the center of the inquiry into Clinton’s emails: embassy security.

An email written by Daniel Smith, who served as executive secretary of state under Clinton, contains a large redacted section about “two embassy security issues.” Suspicion about Clinton’s personal email use surfaced as Republicans investigated the September 11, 2012, attack at a State Department outpost in Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens. Three other Americans also died.

(...SNIPPED)

 

[CougarKing]

Something amusing from last month: Hillary Clinton: " I did not have sexual relations with that president!"  ;D

Cleveland Sun

Report: Bill Clinton might not be Chelsea Clinton's biological dad

WRITTEN BY SCOTT SUTTON POSTED: 07/09/2015, 09:32AM
Chelsea Clinton has “secretly undergone a DNA test,” and it looks like former President Bill Clinton might not be her biological father.

That’s according to a National Enquirer report released Thursday, which says that Hillary’s former law partner Webb Hubble might be the father.

(...SNIPPED)

 

[CougarKing]

A poorly timed attempt to unseat Boehner?

Yahoo Finance

The GOP civil war has quietly exploded back into the open — and it could get nastier than ever
By Brett LoGiurato | Business Insider – Sun, 2 Aug, 2015 3:26 PM EDT

It marked perhaps the most bombastic challenge to House Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) leadership, and another point at which long-simmering tensions within the Republican caucus have exploded out into the open.

Meadows introduced a resolution on Tuesday that aims to force Boehner from his post. The resolution will now be referred to a powerful House committee full of members loyal to Boehner, and has no chance of succeeding. But the message he had attempted to send was clear.

"The House of Representatives, to function effectively, in the service of all citizens of this country, requires the service of a Speaker who will endeavor to follow an orderly and inclusive process without imposing his or her will upon any Member thereof," Meadows wrote in the resolution.
When Republicans took back control of the Senate and gained a bigger majority in the House of Representatives last year, their leaders promised an era of more responsible governance. But as Congress lurches toward a jam-packed legislative schedule this fall, infighting in both the House of Representatives and the Senate threatens that vow.

(...SNIPPED)

 

[tomahawk6]

A poorly timed attempt to unseat Boehner?

Yahoo Finance

His departure would be a game changer in the House.Couple that with ousting McConnell and maybe the GOP can redeem itself.