The 2016 US American Election Thread

[ernie]

Pence had more poise than kaine. Kaine I think had the more important substance and most importantly Pence had no answers for the behavior of the guy at the top of his ticket.

But people will likely just see the poise part of things. I think luckily for Clinton and Kaine the VP debate has little influence on the outcome of the election.

If Clinton can bury Trump again in debate #2 then Trump may as well not even bother showing up for debate #3.

[starseed]

This is a link to that Clinton ad comparing Pence's denials with clips of Trump:

http://mashable.com/2016/10/05/pence.../#a_cW6BZdBEqq

[opendoor]

Makes you wonder if one of Kaine's main goals in that debate was to produce material for ads.

[photon]

Heard from several sources: Kaine is running for 2016 VP, Pence is running for 2020 President.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Interesting read

Woody explained that white players were hesitant to talk about Trump because “a white player may parrot something Trump says, and the black player may think, ‘Oh, that’s how you feel?’ And it could cause problems.”

Those problems are already unfolding across the NFL. In mid-May, as Trump became the presumptive nominee, two NFC teammates—a right-leaning offensive lineman and a left-leaning linebacker—began to re-examine their friendship because of Trump.

They had known each other for four years. Their wives talked on occasion. Their kids sometimes played together. They sat next to each other in team meetings and went to dinner several times per month. They often joked that politics were off-limits because of their disparate viewpoints. Then, after their first offseason team workout in May, the lineman revealed he would be voting for Trump—and everything changed.

The linebacker, a Clinton supporter, began finding excuses for not going to dinner. The families stopped talking. When the lineman confronted his now former friend, he recalls receiving a blunt response: I can’t be friends with anyone who would vote for Donald Trump. I’m sorry.

Black players who might otherwise back a more conservative candidate said they have abandoned Trump because they view him as anti-black. Multiple players cited Trump’s embrace of so-called birtherism—the lie that President Obama isn’t a natural-born citizen—as one of several reasons they dislike Trump.

“A lot of black players believe saying the first black president isn’t really American is racist as f--k,” one player told B/R Mag.

Recalled another black player: “I was talking Trump and Hillary with a white teammate, and the conversation was fine. Things got a little heated when he said, ‘Trump isn’t racist.’ I don’t know how anyone doesn’t see how that’s just not true. We talked about that statement for two days.

“We were taking a break during practice maybe four days or so after our last conversation about Trump,” the player continued. “He came up to me and said, ‘Here’s why Trump’s not racist and Hillary is.’ Then we argued for another day. It was sort of heated again.”

For the most part, though, NFL players have attempted to rise above the divisiveness of the campaign, however divided their workplace environment might already have become. One starting offensive lineman said he and his teammates “discuss politics every day. We couldn’t be more different and are good friends and joke about all of it.”

“That’s an issue with this country,” said the lineman, who said he planned to vote for Trump. “We can’t have conversations anymore. We are too sensitive. It’s OK to disagree about things.”

http://thelab.bleacherreport.com/don...mming-national

[Bobblehead]

The Atlantic has only ever endorsed 3 presidential candidates since its creation in 1857. Abe Lincoln, LBJ, and now Hillary Clinton.

We are impressed by many of the qualities of the Democratic Party’s nominee for president, even as we are exasperated by others, but we are mainly concerned with the Republican Party’s nominee, Donald J. Trump, who might be the most ostentatiously unqualified major-party candidate in the 227-year history of the American presidency.

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/...-trump/501161/

[ernie]

Originally Posted by photon

Heard from several sources: Kaine is running for 2016 VP, Pence is running for 2020 President.

Likely true. But if Pence has a chance in 2020 at winning the nomination the GOP has no chance of winning the election.

That assumes of course they lose this election which is not something I'm putting money on yet. I hope they do. I really really hope they do but americans be crazy.

The final paragraph of the endorsement from the Atlantic. About as powerful as you can get.

In its founding statement, The Atlantic promised that it would be “the organ of no party or clique,” and our interest here is not to advance the prospects of the Democratic Party, nor to damage those of the Republican Party.... We believe in American democracy, in which individuals from various parties of different ideological stripes can advance their ideas and compete for the affection of voters. But Trump is not a man of ideas. He is a demagogue, a xenophobe, a sexist, a know-nothing, and a liar. He is spectacularly unfit for office, and voters—the statesmen and thinkers of the ballot box—should act in defense of American democracy and elect his opponent.

While these endorsements and chastisements of Trump are nice they should have happened on mass a year ago.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Interesting read


http://thelab.bleacherreport.com/don...mming-national

Ross Douthat, NY Times, thinks that the ground is set for this trend to take off on the Left, and thus, even further radicalizing the bifurcation of American society.

The differences between the Democratic Party’s younger, poorer, browner base and its older, whiter, richer and more moderate leadership are a potentially unstable equilibrium. The anger coursing through left-wing protest politics could find a cruder, more nakedly demagogic avatar than Bernie Sanders. A Hillary Clinton administration could supply various betrayals and compromises or foul up in some disastrous way, encouraging a sense that the professional class that dominates liberalism’s upper reaches needs to give way to a revived (and larger) version of Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Coalition — a “real American future” analogue to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” appeals.

Read the whole thing: A Trumpism of the Left

[ernie]

Former tax advisor: The brilliant Trump who is very brilliant at using the tax code-just ask anyone how brilliantly he uses the loopholes- not so brilliant after all. Trump never had any input in his 1995 tax preparation.

I know everyone is shocked that Trump merely hired people to do ALL the work for him. After all it's what he was looking for in a VP as well.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/05/politi...rns/index.html

Now of course this is the obvious thing. He wouldn't be doing his own taxes but just how brilliant is he then? Well brilliant enough to not have his tax proposals shut down any of the loopholes he uses I guess...


The new Clinton ad. They clearly had that planned out for Kaine to get those things. They may have eclipsed the social media king of the election on this one.

[Alpine Fisher]

How is Clinton going to lead the greatest country in the world if she can't even climb up a set of stairs or hold press conferences?

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Alpine Fisher

How is Clinton going to lead the greatest country in the world if she can't even climb up a set of stairs or hold press conferences?

Please have a Russian IP address.

[Izzle]

Originally Posted by Alpine Fisher

How is Clinton going to lead the greatest country in the world if she can't even climb up a set of stairs or hold press conferences?

NSFW!

[troutman]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

The Atlantic has only ever endorsed 3 presidential candidates since its creation in 1857. Abe Lincoln, LBJ, and now Hillary Clinton.
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/...-trump/501161/

Not one endorsement for Trump in this list of papers:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newspa...election,_2016

[ResAlien]

I literally cannot wait for Sunday, or more specifically after the debate next Sunday. I imagine no matter how the debate actually goes we'll be privy to more Donnie Twitter madness.

[bob-loblaw]

Originally Posted by ResAlien

I literally cannot wait for Sunday, or more specifically after the debate next Sunday. I imagine no matter how the debate actually goes we'll be privy to more Donnie Twitter madness.

I wonder how medicated he's going to have to be so he doesn't insult someone from the crowd who asks a question he doesn't want to answer. Hopefully there's someone that looks like Rosie O'Donnell.

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by ernie

Former tax advisor: The brilliant Trump who is very brilliant at using the tax code-just ask anyone how brilliantly he uses the loopholes- not so brilliant after all. Trump never had any input in his 1995 tax preparation.

I know everyone is shocked that Trump merely hired people to do ALL the work for him. After all it's what he was looking for in a VP as well.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/05/politi...rns/index.html

Now of course this is the obvious thing. He wouldn't be doing his own taxes but just how brilliant is he then? Well brilliant enough to not have his tax proposals shut down any of the loopholes he uses I guess...


The new Clinton ad. They clearly had that planned out for Kaine to get those things. They may have eclipsed the social media king of the election on this one.

Well he's clearly brilliant because he wouldn't have no black guys doing his taxes, Trump has stated clearly only Jews are good at that kind of thing, that black guys can't do that kind of work.

Of course he ain't a racist in any way.

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by bob-loblaw

I wonder how medicated he's going to have to be so he doesn't insult someone from the crowd who asks a question he doesn't want to answer. Hopefully there's someone that looks like Rosie O'Donnell.

Hey maybe Rosie could show up herself! That'd be worth a Kickstarter campaign

[ernie]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

Well he's clearly brilliant because he wouldn't have no black guys doing his taxes, Trump has stated clearly only Jews are good at that kind of thing, that black guys can't do that kind of work.

Of course he ain't a racist in any way.

Of course not! Some of his best friends is his African American!

[GGG]

Originally Posted by peter12

Ross Douthat, NY Times, thinks that the ground is set for this trend to take off on the Left, and thus, even further radicalizing the bifurcation of American society.

Read the whole thing: A Trumpism of the Left

It will be interesting, at some point one of the two parties will create a schism and from it a 3rd centrist party will emerge. The more likely of the two right now is a republican split into the evangelical tea party and the fiscal conservatives. Then if the fiscal conservatives can take back the Center by having credible policy on human rights issues but pro-business and take the centrist democrats with them (ie Hillary). Then the democrats swing way left with a Jill Stein type candidate.

Right now in the US there is no left wing Party at the presidential Level. At the house and senate level you have some.

[Looch City]

Originally Posted by Alpine Fisher

How is Clinton going to lead the greatest country in the world if she can't even climb up a set of stairs or hold press conferences?

Robots obviously.

Murica shall have the first cyborg President!