Presidential race 2016

[HairOfTheDog]

Not withstanding anything else, Bernie is kinda a little too long in the tooth!

He's about the same age as Biden; early 70s.

I wonder if Biden will really toss his hat in the ring.

I keep seeing Biden's name come up as possible candidates, but it's hard to believe he'd actually go there.

[ZEROSPHERES]

....... in Scandinavia, like Denmark, Norway, Sweden, they are very democratic countries, obviously. The voter turnout is a lot higher than it is in the United States. In those countries, health care is the right of all people. And in those countries, college education, graduate school is free."

Gee, I wonder if their Constitution has a pre-amble proclaiming its intent to guarantee its people a Government, of the people, by the people and for the people? We have those words and that promise but they have the reality. WTF! I guess running an EMPIRE has its limitations.

[Maggot]

In China there is free healthcare, housing, food, education too.

[Carsman]

In China there is free healthcare, housing, food, education too.

Well yeah, they need it free, with the mimimum wage being $1.21/hr.

[Maggot]

In China there is free healthcare, housing, food, education too.

Well yeah, they need it free, with the mimimum wage being $1.21/hr.

Must be the free market.

[ZEROSPHERES]

It strikes me as strange that totalitarian dictatorships like Cuba and China who do NOT heed the will of the people have benefits for their people that far exceed ours in those areas.

[Maggot]

You have to keep your machines well greased otherwise they break, fall apart and start raising hell.

[ZEROSPHERES]

You have to keep your machines well greased otherwise they break, fall apart and start raising hell.

The Romans had a system of appeasement for the populous too; later referred to as "Bread and Circus".

We just have Hillary and Geraldo.

[Carsman]

You have to keep your machines well greased otherwise they break, fall apart and start raising hell.

The Romans had a system of appeasement for the populous too; later referred to as "Bread and Circus".

We just have Hillary and Geraldo.

Actually when you come to look at it, who ever owns that body under the black box, has a pretty "perky" looking rack!

[Blindgreed1]

[ZEROSPHERES]

The Romans had a system of appeasement for the populous too; later referred to as "Bread and Circus".

We just have Hillary and Geraldo.

Actually when you come to look at it, who ever owns that body under the black box, has a pretty "perky" looking rack!

If you can believe Geraldo's book, Hillary is one of the few women in the world he didn't have sex with. I find more believable the claims in a new book by Peter Schweizer with allegations about donations made to her family foundation called, "Clinton Cash." The New York Times got an advanced copy and says the book alleges foreign entities that donated to the Clinton Foundation got favors in return from Secretary Clinton's State Department. All I want are the bare facts.

[FAHQTOO]

The Romans had a system of appeasement for the populous too; later referred to as "Bread and Circus".

We just have Hillary and Geraldo.

Actually when you come to look at it, who ever owns that body under the black box, has a pretty "perky" looking rack!

If you can believe Geraldo's book, Hillary is one of the few women in the world he didn't have sex with. I find more believable the claims in a new book by Peter Schweizer with allegations about donations made to her family foundation called, "Clinton Cash." The New York Times got an advanced copy and says the book alleges foreign entities that donated to the Clinton Foundation got favors in return from Secretary Clinton's State Department. All I want are the bare facts.

Did any of the ho-bags in here have sex with him?...User?...BBH??

[aussiefriend]

Whorealdo degraded himself. Your former first lady has held high office and held her dignity, I think it's appalling the way you disrespect her. It's sexist.

[ZEROSPHERES]

Is there any reason, if Hillary gets the Democratic nomination to run for President, that she can't select Bill as her V.P. running mate? If Bill was allowed by law to fill the V.P. slot and Hillary were to die in office would Bill be precluded from serving as the President?



http://themetapicture.com/hillbilly/

[HairOfTheDog]

WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE GOP?

Depends on who you ask.

Hillary Clinton and Rand Paul each tackled the question today; they kicked a bunch of Republicans and got some bonus points for kicking each other in the process.


If you ask Hillary Clinton what's wrong with the GOP, she'll tell you that (among other things) they're behind the times when it comes to gender pay equality.

Today in front of the South Carolina Democratic Women's Caucus, Clinton alluded to some of the recent remarks that her Republican rivals have made in regards to the issue.

These are some of the GOP gems.
-Governor Scott Walker called equal pay a "bogus" issue.
-Senator Marco Rubio said that Congress was "wasting time" on the matter.
-And, Senator Rand Paul compared fairness to price-setting by the Soviet Union's governing body, the Politburo.

Hillary retorted today, "what century are they living in?" and promised the women in the audience that she would be working hard to get equal pay measures passed if she's elected President.



According to Rand Paul, the hawks in the GOP were wrong about Iraq and they created ISIS.

Today Paul said: "Everything that they have talked about in foreign policy, they have been wrong about for 20 years, and yet they have somehow the gall to keep saying and pointing fingers otherwise."

Paul said that those who said his kind of foreign policy (which his critics inside and outside of his party label "isolationist") was responsible for the rise of ISIS were wrong.

"I would say it's exactly the opposite. ISIS exists and grew stronger because of the hawks in our party who gave arms indiscriminately. And most of those arms were snatched up by ISIS. These hawks also wanted to bomb [Syrian President Bashar al-Assad], which would have made ISIS's job even easier," he said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "They created these people. ISIS is all over Libya because these same hawks in my party loved -- they loved [former Secretary of State] Hillary Clinton’s war in Libya. They just wanted more of it."

Refs:
http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/27/politics/h...-carolina/
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/election-201...n-the-gop/

[HairOfTheDog]

Santorum's Back



He came in just behind Romney for the GOP in the 2012 Presidential race.

Santorum is a religious right former Pennsylvania senator who's targeting the middle class this time out with a campaign centered around blue-collar conservatism. He advocates for less government in social and private matters, and opposes same-sex marriage and abortion.

He doesn't have a chance in hell in the more-crowded 2016 Republican field, IMO. Then again, polls show that Ben Carson's numbers are growing, so who knows.

http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpoliti...k-santorum

[Maggot]

He's a nut. I've been looking at Rubios efforts. Rand Paul would be OK if he could just measure his words before he spoke. Bernie Sanders is a freak and is fun to watch, hard to do without laughing out loud though.

[HairOfTheDog]

Rand Paul would be OK if he could just measure his words before he spoke.

On some issues, I think Rand Paul makes more sense than anyone else. On others, I think he's lost.

It's too bad that the two-party hold on the U.S. government is so cemented by money and special interest group puppetry. Independents and Libertarians still don't stand a chance in hell of winning the presidential nomination, in my opinion.

Being a Libertarian forced into the GOP box often results in Paul pissing off both his own adopted party and the democrats. Plus, as you noted, he tends to put his foot in his mouth frequently.

Anyway, one of his campaign focuses is repealing the Patriot Act. He's gonna hold up the extension of it in Congress with his vote against it.

Here's his stance:

“Tomorrow, we will come back with just hours left before the NSA illegal spying powers expire. “Let me be clear: I acknowledge the need for a robust intelligence agency and for a vigilant national security.

“I believe we must fight terrorism, and I believe we must stand strong against our enemies.

“But we do not need to give up who we are to defeat them. In fact, we must not.

“There has to be another way. We must find it together.

“So tomorrow, I will force the expiration of the NSA illegal spy program.

“I am ready and willing to start the debate on how we fight terrorism without giving up our liberty.”

“Sometimes when the problem is big enough, you just have to start over. The tax code and our regulatory burdens are two good examples.”

“Fighting against unconditional, illegal powers that take away our rights, taken by previous Congresses and administrations is just as important.”

Source: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/ex...z3bduL3fAV

[i]
"There has to be a better way. We must find it together." Yeah, sounds good Rand. But, as a presidential hopeful, you'd probably be better off including at least one "better way" solution to an acknowledged significant problem when pushing for repeal.

I don't think he'll have any luck in blocking the extension beyond a couple of days delay, personally.

[HairOfTheDog]

Hillary has a Democratic Competitor -- Martin O'Malley Throws His Hat in the Ring



“Recently, the CEO of Goldman Sachs let his employees know that he’d be just fine with either Bush or Clinton,” Martin O'Malley said in his campaign announcement on Federal Hill, overlooking Baltimore. “Well, I’ve got news for the bullies of Wall Street—the presidency is not a crown to be passed back and forth by you between two royal families.”

O’Malley is a longshot candidate for the Democratic nomination, polling at 1% among Democrats compared with Hillary Clinton’s 57%, according to a May 28 Quinnipiac survey, despite his frequent trips to Iowa and New Hampshire. His allies have launched a super PAC called Generation Forward that will support his campaign in early nominating states.

During his speech, O’Malley, who is also former mayor of Baltimore, cast the city’s recent racial unrest—including a night of riots after the funeral of Freddie Gray, who died of injuries sustained in police custody—as an symptom of a larger American problem. “What took place here was not only about race…not only about policing in America. It’s about everything it is supposed to mean to be an American,” he said. “The scourge of hopelessness that happened to ignite here that evening, transcends race or geography.”

Full story: http://time.com/3902449/martin-omalley-p...ntial-run/

[HairOfTheDog]

I don't think he'll have any luck in blocking the extension beyond a couple of days delay, personally.

Well, I was completely effin' wrong in that ^ thinking.

Rand Paul was successful today in blocking extension of Patriot Act authority for the NSA. I think it looks good for him politically that the others who were active in lobbying against extension are a bi-partisan bunch.


Snip:

The National Security Agency will soon lose its authority to collect the phone records of millions of Americans, thanks to a new reform measure Congress passed on Tuesday. President Barack Obama, who supports the measure, said he will sign it into law as soon as possible.

It is the first piece of legislation to reform post ⁹⁄₁₁ surveillance measures.

"It's historical," said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, one of the leading architects of the reform efforts. "It's the first major overhaul of government surveillance in decades."

The weeks-long buildup to the final vote was full of drama.

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul assailed the NSA in a 10-hour speech that roused civil libertarians around the country. He opposed both renewing the post 9/11-Patriot Act and the compromise measure -- that eventually passed -- known as the USA Freedom Act.

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and defense hawks such as Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham, had hoped to extend the more expansive Patriot Act, arguing it was essential for national security.

Story: http://us.cnn.com/2015/06/02/politics/se...index.html