http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/03/politics/hillary-clinton-republicans-swing-states-quinnipiac-poll/

Would be a little crazy if it was the Bush dynasty vs. the Clinton dynasty.

2/3/2015 7:57:44 AM

a clinton nomination will be the final straw that will cause me to waste a vote on a 3rd party candidate

2/3/2015 8:40:30 AM

Even if she tacks to the left to some degree?

2/3/2015 8:59:08 AM

ignoring that a shift left wouldn't be sincere, it would have to be a pretty big turn. but she would still be part of the same system that is the problem, so probably not even then.

2/3/2015 9:05:03 AM

What if it were Hillary Clinton and Scott Walker and the polling was too close to call?

2/3/2015 9:41:55 AM

3rd party, i can't support a democratic party that nominates a pro-banking, pro-corporation, anti-privacy war hawk

2/3/2015 9:43:42 AM

Quote :

"Bush said he'll detail his Right to Rise platform in the coming months. But it will include: a commitment to family with a focus on encouraging children raised in two-parent families; economic growth of 4% a year; reforms of policies geared toward keeping people in poverty; closing the education gap; and reforming government to give less money to Washington, D.C., and more to state and local governments."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2015/02/04/jeb-bush-detroit-speech/22857905/

I'm laughing inside at conservatives trying to figure out ways to help poor people that don't sound like the various democratic proposals over the past several years.

2/4/2015 3:14:46 PM

when republicans say they want to reform programs that are keeping people in poverty what they mean is that they want to cut welfare, nutrition programs, etc...

aside from the awkward wording that makes it sound like Republicans want programs to help children who have two parents, I am very excited about that part. It's really time that we stood up and stopped the attack on marriage, we need to make marriage automatic for pregnant couples and we need a constitutional amendment that prevents the sinful act of divorce

2/4/2015 11:18:31 PM

Quote :

"3rd party, i can't support a democratic party that nominates a pro-banking, pro-corporation, anti-privacy war hawk"

So...the democratic party?

2/5/2015 12:12:32 AM

the democratic party still has a few progressives, I would vote for Warren

2/5/2015 6:56:27 AM

Quote :

"I would vote for Warren"

Just as terrifying as

Quote :

"I would vote for Cruz"

2/5/2015 7:09:08 AM

no.

2/5/2015 10:03:40 AM

Please tell me the GOP wouldn't try and run Scott Walker. Please.

2/23/2015 2:30:24 PM

They would run Walker on his anti-union stance alone.

I don't really care about Walker. I do think it is funny though how some talking heads on the left actually question his lack of degree. I heard one anchor actually ask the question "Do you think though, that with a lack of a college degree, his worldview has a much narrower focus?"

Haha that's funny.

2/23/2015 4:22:11 PM

Wait, why is that funny? Do you not think that a college degree should be a prerequisite to be the leader of the free world?

And you wouldn't happen to be one of those that criticize Obama as being a "community organizer", would you?

2/23/2015 4:46:15 PM

Scott Walker wouldn't be a bad option for the republicans. He at least doesn't come off as a complete idiot, just typically anti-middle class/poor.

I think between speeches/debates I could see the general public liking walker more than warren.

2/23/2015 7:59:34 PM

Jeb Bush will be the next president. Hillary will get trounced and Warren isn't ready yet. The rest of the R candidates won't make it through the primary season without sounding like raving lunatics.

2/23/2015 9:10:58 PM

He quit. I can think of a few others that quit college and ended up not doing too bad for themselves. Obama as a community organizer? Sure. But he had little to know experience governing. I'll take a non-college graduated successful governor over whatever Barack was before he was president any day.

And I can't believe the left is using this argument. I thought for sure that they would be the first group to tout the ability to overcome any obstacle in your life to try and make it. But alas, they only use that idea when it suits them.

2/24/2015 7:48:16 AM

http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/2016-president/

Quote :

"Do you not think that a college degree should be a prerequisite to be the leader of the free world?"

I'd attach things like "never declared personal bankruptcy before" ahead of things like "should have a college degree". Especially when a good number of college degrees are bullshit.

[Edited on February 24, 2015 at 8:02 AM. Reason : /]

2/24/2015 8:00:02 AM

not having a college degree is only an issue for voters who aren't going to vote for a republican anyways

2/24/2015 8:22:37 AM

cant have a president whose wife spends too much

columba bush pwnd

2/24/2015 9:02:24 AM

^^because your welfare queens really give a shit if somebody has a degree.

2/24/2015 10:20:11 AM

Welfare queens probably do care if someone has a degree... not sure why you'd think they wouldn't? People generally want a leader they feel is intelligent and more qualified than themselves to lead, and for poor people, this usually means going to college.

It's more the farmer and business types that don't really care about a degree, I'd speculate.Steve Jobs never really got a degree, neither did Wozniak or Gates (they have honorary degrees though).

2/24/2015 10:25:47 AM

a GOP candidate without a degree is going to be perceived as even more likely to de-emphasize public education, be anti-science, pro-creationist, etc. whether it's a valid perception or not.

These things don't matter for dyed in the wool dems or republicans, they will simply vote for their team no matter what.

These things matter for swing voters.

2/24/2015 11:01:26 AM

not having a college degree should the least of our worries about Walker. First of all, its not like he just didn't have the opportunity, he was one semester away from graduating

Here are just a few of the reasons he is unlikely to get my vote:

He "doesn't know" if he believes in evolution

He "doesn't know" if Obama is a christian

He "isn't sure" if Obama loves America

I hate these gotcha questions as much as the next guy, but jesus, hedge much?? My guess is he will continue making these hedging, shoulder shrugging comments for a while, well into the primary. The guy is a coward in front of reporters, not what I like to see in my leaders.

More importantly:

The WI state budget is in total disarray due to his tenure. They have had year over year budget shortfalls, and are now skipping debt repayments, well they'll call it "refinancing", but the fact remains is that Walker has created a structural deficit, and it is projected to grow through 2017, even as the state recovers.

He is cutting $300 Million from U of W, which like the UNC system is a major economic driver in the state (its extremely short sighted IMO)

He has been recorded in a prank call openly fellating a David Koch impersonator. He says he considered putting "troublemakers" in protesting crowds and humble bragged to Koch, etc.

Something like 5 or 6 of his close aides or political appointees, from his days as mayor of Milwaukee, have been convicted for a range of felonies. Everything from embezzlement (from a wounded veterans group no less), to working on campaigns during work hours, to child pornography/soliciting a minor.

While a mayor he had a secret email server set up in his office so that campaign activities would not be subject to FOIA requests.

He is at the fore front of "pay to play" government. There is substantial evidence that he had a large amount of coordination between his gubernatorial campaign and outside spending groups, He has led the fight to make the state's judiciary a partisan, unlimited cash buyout.

2/24/2015 11:25:15 AM

Whether all that is smear or not, I don't plan on voting for Walker...I just think the college degree part is silly.

2/24/2015 11:42:15 AM

Quote :

"^^because your welfare queens really give a shit if somebody has a degree."

do i need to draw you a venn diagram to figure out why that's not a valid reply, or can you figure it out on your own?

2/24/2015 12:16:44 PM

Welfare "queens" resonates more with the GOP than "kings" since it has the added benefit of demonizing women.

2/24/2015 3:19:19 PM

well i mean poor black families don't have a dad so only queens

2/24/2015 4:51:55 PM

2/24/2015 5:54:33 PM

I know it's not a huge deal, but doesn't it say something about his character that he had the opportunity to go to college and get a degree, and he chose to do it, but quit when he was in the home stretch?

And i know that it often doesn't mean much, but i, for one, think a college degree should be required to hold a public office. But it sounds like he's got a lot of other things going against him.

And lol at the cliche "welfare queens".

2/25/2015 10:24:56 AM

I threw that in there for dtownral's benefit.

Come on, its a trope you just can't leave alone.

2/25/2015 12:18:37 PM

2/25/2015 12:20:47 PM

haha

I've acknowledged here that the term welfware queens are a trope, and that I've only had anecdotal run-ins with them. But this is getting off the topic of this thread, which is how, unfortuantely, Jeb Bush is going to be our next president.

2/25/2015 12:58:26 PM

Quote :

"Do you think though, that with a lack of a college degree, his worldview has a much narrower focus?"

lol

His worldview is definitely narrow, but it has nothing to do with a college degree.

2/26/2015 1:02:23 AM

Quote :

" Do you not think that a college degree should be a prerequisite to be the leader of the free world?"

:Shrug: Truman did OK, I think, and as a plurality of Americans at the time seem to have thought. I'm opposed to making a college degree an absolutely prerequisite for just about anything outside of medical professions, on two grounds:

1) Right now it's a prerequisite for just about everything, which waters down the value of a college education (and generally waters down the education itself)
2) For just about any job -- including President -- a combination of intelligence and experience can be as good or better than a degree from a University. That standard is pretty high. You'd better be real damn smart and those experiences better have been real damn relevant. But if Bill Gates were running for President right now I don't think there would be any stories titled "Can a College Dropout Be President?"

Clarification: If Scott Walker is the Republican nominee for President I will vote for literally any Democrat who is on the ballot, but his education status is not my reason.

[Edited on February 26, 2015 at 3:52 AM. Reason : ]

2/26/2015 3:51:38 AM

Truman was not a very good president and we are still dealing with the effects of some of his failed policies. He also would make Biden look like a polished and well spoken diplomat if he was in office today.

2/26/2015 11:13:25 AM

Quote :

"Do you think though, that with a lack of a college degree, his worldview has a much narrower focus?"

This guy thinks he has a broad worldview because he went to college.

2/26/2015 6:17:01 PM

Quote :

"Truman was not a very good president and we are still dealing with the effects of some of his failed policies. He also would make Biden look like a polished and well spoken diplomat if he was in office today."

I disagree, but it doesn't matter. You're not really saying much here. OK, Joe Biden is notoriously gaffe-prone...in spite of a college education. And as far as "not very good presidents" go, we'll find that the majority have extensive college educations.

Richard Nixon got a law degree from Duke. George W. Bush went to Yale and Harvard, as much as you may wish it weren't so. Herbert Hoover of Hooverville fame went to Stanford. Jimmy Carter did postgraduate work in nuclear physics and Gerald Ford went to Yale.

Meanwhile in the "no college" category we have a couple of famous flops, like Andrew "fuck reconstruciton" Johnson and Andrew "and fuck all the indians, too" Jackson. But we also have George "George Washington" Washington and Abraham motherfucking Lincoln. And, because I'm rather a fan of him, Harry "Hiroshima" Truman.

2/27/2015 4:20:20 AM

I like Rand Paul. I want him to be the next president.

2/28/2015 10:33:01 PM

Rand Paul should just declare himself the next president. It could be certified by the Rand Paul Center for Legitimate Elections and he could shoot down anyone who questions him.

3/1/2015 12:06:41 AM

That's rebellion.
Jeb Bush gave a speech Friday at CPAC in DC. I basically agree with all what he said!

3/1/2015 7:48:13 PM

This is why we should use preferential/ranked balloting.

3/2/2015 2:42:59 PM

Yeah, never going to happen. You're asking the people who benefit from our corrupt system to change our corrupt system.

It's funny, people talk about how there are all these African kleptocracies and we love to level that charge at Putin's Russia as well, but we never actually look at our own system and see that it's not that far off from being the exact same thing. Politicians are all bought and paid for by powerful interests, they don't give two hot shits about their constituents and they use their positions to accumulate massive power and wealth, often through outright illegal means when there are already incredibly corrupt, but legal ways for them to do it as well.

3/2/2015 7:00:54 PM

Yeah. You'll recall how George W. Bush has been in power since 2001 and how prominent opposition figures like Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have all been killed.

Quote :

"Politicians are all bought and paid for by powerful interests, they don't give two hot shits about their constituents and they use their positions to accumulate massive power and wealth, often through outright illegal means when there are already incredibly corrupt, but legal ways for them to do it as well."

1) "All" is a mighty bold word here.
2) The most corrupt and disgusting politician cares very much about his constituents, because they are his access to wealth and power.
3) Politics can get you pretty rich, but the list of people with "massive wealth" doesn't include many politicians.

I get that the system leaves a lot to be desired, but comparing the US to Russia or Zimbabwe is just fucking stupid.

3/3/2015 2:53:36 AM

Hillary Clinton Used Personal Email Account at State Dept., Possibly Breaking Rules

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/03/03/us/politics/hillary-clintons-use-of-private-email-at-state-department-raises-flags.html?smid=tw-bna&_r=1&referrer=

Quote :

"WASHINGTON — Hillary Rodham Clinton exclusively used a personal email account to conduct government business as secretary of state, State Department officials said, and may have violated federal requirements that officials’ correspondence be retained as part of the agency’s record. Mrs. Clinton did not have a government email address during her four-year tenure at the State Department. Her aides took no actions to have her personal emails preserved on department servers at the time, as required by the Federal Records Act."

what in the actual fuck

3/3/2015 10:59:29 AM

This is going to be the biggest cluster fuck of a presidential race ever.

3/3/2015 11:03:51 AM

Quote :

"Mrs. Clinton did not have a government email address during her four-year tenure at the State Department"

If she didn't get one, it's hardly fair to hold her accountable for not using it.

Also:


[Edited on March 3, 2015 at 12:42 PM. Reason : .]

3/3/2015 12:40:22 PM

I imagine she had the power to request and receive one.

This is real shady.

3/3/2015 1:04:11 PM

^^ you don't see the importance of record retention rules for a government employee who is a cabinet level position? get the fuck out of here.

3/3/2015 1:24:55 PM